The Heart of A Dragon
by TheWolfmanJack
Summary: Wounded in battle, Toothless goes to extreme measures to save Hiccup's life. ToothlessxHiccup
1. Chapter 1

War was always going to be part of the reality of being a Viking, it made up the backbone of their culture, was a rite of passage for many, and without it, the Viking people may not have ever survived to begin with. But it was dirty work, risking life and limb, it would always involve some broken family who would lose sibling or parents in such conflicts. While as much as Hiccup didn't want to partake in such grim business as war, he realized that it was an unavoidable truth of his people, and by extension, he himself. At least this was what he thought as he swooped over the stark and pebbled beach that was the battlefield of today, with his jaw set, and eyes peering through billowing clouds of smoke, surveying the grim scene unfolding beneath him. It was nothing short of shocking, but for the sake of himself and Toothless, he hardened himself against such affairs, focusing instead on points of interest and the advances of Berk soldiers below. Berk was a sea-locked island, and all for the better, Vikings enjoyed their privacy, but being sea-locked, it came that Vikings were natural sailors, and while it didn't happen as often as one might expect, conflicts broke out between nearby Viking tribes. Sometimes it was over supplies pillaged during one of their many raids, or territory on one of the many isles that dotted the sea around them. However, when such conflicts broke out, it was almost always guaranteed to be a long, drawn out, and bloody war. Peace talks would always end in pitched shouting matches, due to the fact that neither side would be willing to give up their new found prize, neither would be willing to surrender, and both wanted to prove their prowess on the battlefield.

But these were nothing too far out of the ordinary, in fact it was something of a custom, on par with the war that had been drug out with the dragons for generations, that was until Hiccup came along and made peace between the two species. Normally, it might have even been looked forward to by some, to cut their teeth and test their skill in the oldest of Viking traditions. But this particular run in couldn't have happened at a more inopportune time, with winter fast approaching, it was a choice left up to the chief, Stoick, between this conflict and the survival of their tribe. With the winter in Berk lasting as long as it did, Stoick was determined to end this conflict as fast as possible, and with as little loss of life as possible. "I'll be damned if I let this be the end of us!" He said with his ever-inspiring fervor, these were his exact words during the council meeting after the first few attacks. So in favor of the favorite tried and true Viking strategy to merely "send them running," by throwing every able-bodied man woman and child at the enemy battlements, Stoick intended to broker a peace through an overwhelming show of force, with their new dragon allies at the forefront. While although it wasn't the most orthodox idea he'd had, not to mention the fact that some didn't exactly warm to it at first. The dragons had been their allies for such a short period of time, some were opposed to the idea of an alliance with the dragons at all, still clinging to age old traditions only just broken. But in the end most found this to be an acceptable alternative to the old Viking fallback, and if they weren't quite satisfied with the new strategy, a swift death glare from Stoick, hand gripped tightly around his omnipresent hammer, quickly swayed all but the hardiest of naysayers. But Hiccup wasn't as satisfied as so many of the others, and he was determined to stand up for what he believed in.

Pacing the ground floor in his the house he and his father shared, Hiccup couldn't believe what the vast man was asking of him, not only as his son, but the most trusted human amongst the dragons. Running a hand through his auburn hair, clearly distressed about the dilemma he was in, forced to make an extremely jarring decision. He knew the consequences and outcomes of both paths, and he knew there was only one he could take, Hiccup didn't like it, and he was persistent in making his true opinion known, despite the sacrifice he would eventually have to make.

"You realize this is just really, really,-Wrong!" Hiccup sputtered, stopping his pacing, at a loss for words when his Dad had first suggested the plan to him.

"I know." Stoick replied, not looking his son in the eye, instead opting to stare at the wooden floor, shame etched on the man's every feature. It was apparent that Stoick was humbled in regard to Hiccup, clearly not wishing to be in his current position, asking Hiccup to compromise his morals, and his spot of trust amongst the dragons, for a war that didn't involve them.

"I mean, we just got them to trust us, after generations of killing them! And now you just want to force them to do what? Become our tools of war, to become our slaves?" Hiccup guffawed, running both his hands through his hair, reaching a point of near hysteria at just what was being suggested.

"I know what I'm asking for is alot-" Stoick muttered before being cut off.

"Alot? Alot!" Hiccup cried in an exasperated tone, voice raising in pitch once again, matching his rising temper. "You're asking for their very lives!"

"You think I don't know this?" Stoick responded, losing patience, bringing himself up to his full imposing height as he matched Hiccup's volume. "You know I wouldn't be asking if there wasn't a lot at stake!"

Both sat in the silence of the hut, fire crackling beside them, air hanging thick above them while obvious tension lingered between father and son, they met at an impass Hiccup was steadfast determined to stand by his values, and maybe make his father see his point of view, and Stoick pleading deeply with the boy, resolute to do right by his people and the one family member he had left. Both sat like this for some time before Stoick finally swallowed the last of his pride and once more humbled himself before Hiccup, breaking the mutual silence.

"Winter is coming early this year, earlier than usual." Stoick spoke, voice soft but serious, placing emphasis on all of his words, determined to break through to his boy. "We can't afford to occupy ourselves with a petty war, you know as well as I that if we don't settle this quickly, it could mean the end of us, and them."

Hiccup still stood, arms crossed, facing his father, not content to give up and bend to his request. Once more silence enveloped the room as Hiccup contemplated his options, but it wasn't before long that he was interrupted. At this point, Toothless, who had been observing the conversation from one of the support beams that stretched overhead, descended on Hiccup, eyes fixated on the stubborn boy, as if they were boring straight through the boy, a clear message plastered on his dragon visage, but despite their intensity, the soft emerald eyes were attempting to sway the young seeing this, Hiccup immediately turned his eye from the Night Fury, steadfast to stand his ground, even against his best friend. But Toothless was clear in his position as well, he understood the risks of what Stoick asked, and he knew the rest of the dragons would as well.

"Fine." Hiccup mumbled, resigning himself to what his father had planned, sighing and crossing his arms, and dropping onto the stool situated beneath him, grumbling all the while. Hiccup had finally agreed, but felt it was rather underhanded for Toothless to coerce him the way he did.

That had been almost two weeks ago, and as much as Hiccup didn't want to admit it, his father's strategy had worked to near perfection. Ignorant to the events on Berk, the defending tribe had been utterly devastated by the first aerial assault. Dragon's fire scattered their forces, and they were all but helpless against the two pronged onslaught. Vikings on the ground quickly cut down opponents distracted by those in the air, catapults were quickly dispatched and so far there had been a minimum loss of life.

The battle was drawing to a close, and with it the rest of this little war, it was becoming clear that only the most foolhardy of warriors came to face them, and even these were now in short supply. It was actually becoming so obvious that they had won, Stoick felt comfortable enough to allow Hiccup onto the frontlines, only with Toothless though, of course. And this was where Hiccup found himself, atop Toothless high above the carnage. They had nearly pushed the enemy line to their back ranks, and they were all but running scared from the overwhelming force that fell upon them. However, things weren't as simple as they came across, the siege weaponry that dotted their rear line was most threatening, the Ballista in particular was devastating to the dragons. It was a large tension powered weapon that slung spears at massive speeds, if one so much as clipped a dragon, said dragon would be grounded at the very least, but was a death sentence at the very worst and was often the case, these machines quickly became priority targets once they realized the damage they could cause, so with watchful eyes and baited breath, Hiccup stayed on the alert, watching for any signs of an ambush or surprise attack, but the day had gone relatively uneventful, and looked like that's how it was going to end.

Descending from the extreme height he and Toothless maintained, Hiccup quickly found the other dragon riders and the small band of friends he had made in his recent ascension to fame. Falling back in with his allies, Hiccup maneuvered Toothless in next to Astrid and her Nadder, seeking what knowledge she may have happened upon, in the hopes of ending the battle with minimum incident.

"What's the situation?" Hiccup called out over the rush of the wind in his ears.

"It looks like our work is almost done, we've got them heading for the hills, but keep your eyes peeled, Ruff and Tuff said they wheeled in a few catapults and other pieces of equipment to make their last stand, so be careful!"

"You too!" Hiccup replied, before they each peeled off and went their separate ways.

Spotting the hill that most of the enemy had taken refuge on, Hiccup sized up the enemy. They definitely weren't going to surrender, that much became obvious by the spears and tripwires that were casually lobbed in his direction, but not wanting to attract too much attention, Hiccup climbed far above the soldier's reach, preparing for the final engagement. Considering their speed and experience, it was going to be up to him and Toothless to destroy the siege weapons, once those were out of the way, the rest of their force could move in and the foot soldiers would be easy pickings. Circling about, deciding on their particular approach, Hiccup scoped out the targets below, prepping himself mentally for the task he was taking on, but a reassuring rumble from Toothless calmed his nerves, settling himself and clearing his head.

"Alright boy, this is it, we clear these and we're home free, you ready boy?" Nodding and growling in response, Hiccup pat the dragon affectionately on the head. "That's my buddy, alright, here we go!"

Yanking hard on the saddle to direct the dragon while simultaneously tucking the leather tailfin in tight, Toothless followed suit, tucking his Wings tight to his body, Hiccup mimicking the action by squeezing himself down as far he could while still maintaining control. The two shot like a stone a from a sling, wind ruffled his hair, both he and Toothless squinted intently, searching for the closest target. Screaming in with the usual Night Fury ferocity, the enemy never saw it coming. With the usual high pitched scream that accompanied the Night Fury's attack, Hiccup was all but deaf as the rushing wind drowned out all but his thoughts. Cries of panic and the sound of battle were all lost upon the boy as he and Toothless in unison fell upon the battlements like the hammer of Thor himself. Bracing himself and focusing intently on his task, he spotted the first of his targets, ready to point them out to his partner.

"In front!" Hiccup yelled, pointing to one of the large wooden catapults, on cue, Toothless let loose a blast from his maw, more lightning than flame, and what was once a devastating weapon was now nothing more than splinters and cinders. Circling around, dodging the attacks that were now focused upon him and Toothless, they quickly returned to the offensive, taking aim once again at the dangerous siege weapons.

"To the left!" Again, with honed precision, another piece of weaponry burst into flame beneath the boy and his dragon.

"To the right!" One more time the dragon annihilated the enemy forces in their dive bomb attack before pulling out and returning to the safety of the heights. Looking down from their position high above the battleground, Hiccup was satisfied with the work he and Toothless had done. Maybe this was going to go off without a hitch after all.

Preparing for what was likely to be their last run of the battle, Hiccup leaned forward in his saddle to reach the dragon's ear.

"Alright bud, only a couple more times, you ready?" Hiccup asked, encouraging his friend. Once more, Toothless nodded his consent as he took direction from the boy. Descending from their height once again, the pair gathered speed before the final attack, this time approaching from directly above, Toothless took initiative in eliminating the various weapons as Hiccup scanned the battlefield. Their forces had nearly pushed, even through his watering and wind-stung eyes it was apparent that the Berk warriors had all but won at this point, but it was still up to him and Toothless to clean up the dregs that had holed up on the cliffside. However, before the dragon could get a shot off, a sight struck Hiccup, one that shocked him to his very core. On the cliffside, a team in control of a Ballista was taking aim at something, and in an instant he realized what, Astrid sat right in the weapon's line of fire. Before he could react, the Ballista let off a bolt, headed straight for Astrid, who was busy clearing a path for Hiccup's father and a number of others on the ground. Toothless quickly took notice and let loose a fireball, reducing the machine to splinters, but it was already too late, the spear was in the air, and on a collision course. Acting on impulse rather than reason, Hiccup quickly put Toothless into a pitched dive.

"C'mon Toothless, go GO!" Hiccup cried, gripping the saddle horn until his knuckles turned white, he dug his heels into the dragon's sides pushing Toothless to his limit, shooting down to Earth at a breakneck speed. But it was all in vain, at this point, even if Astrid could hear him, she wouldn't be able to react fast enough to get out of the way. Idea after idea passed through his head, wracking his mind in the precious seconds he could spare, Hiccup tried to find a way to turn the situation around, but to no avail. It didn't take a genius to know the bolt wasn't going to be stopped anytime soon, not without direct intervention. It became apparent what he had to do. Without thought, Hiccup unhooked himself from his homemade saddle, and threw himself off of Toothless, who was in shock as he fruitlessly tried to claw after his lost rider.

Falling, Hiccup knew he was just in time, the javelin was hurtling toward him, and almost in slow motion, the spearhead punched through his chest. It hurt less than he expected, but he knew it had hit him, for he immediately began to lose feeling through his entire body. The moment it made contact, the world grew silent and darkness began to eat away at the edges of his vision, and before long his body grew cold, reactions and thought were listless and lethargic, and after a little while, he lost feeling altogether. His gaze finally wandered down toward his chest, Hiccup could see crimson blossoming across the tan woolen shirt he wore, blood copiously coagulating on it, some drops starting to seep through altogether, the slick ooze coating his skin. Out of the corner of his vision, he could see his hand had already turned a chalky white, hanging limp at his side no matter how much he willed it to move, slowly, his thoughts began to wander and his mind trailed off with them. Coughing, blood burst from out at the corners of his cheeks, and finally, darkness consumed him.

XXXXXX

Crying out, Toothless howled to his lost rider. But it was clear Hiccup wasn't going to respond, he could tell the light had already left the boy's eyes, resembling nothing more than a rag doll as gravity took hold and pulled him toward the ground. Acting quickly, Toothless propelled himself with massive thrusts from his wings, intent on catching the young Viking before he violently collided with ground below. Without Hiccup to direct his tailfin, Toothless' direction was at the whim of the wind and what luck he had gotten a hold of in his life. But fate smiled on him, the wind had all but died and he hurtled toward Hiccup's falling form. Smoothly, Toothless glided beneath the boy, allowing him to softly make contact.

It was shocking when the boy's body settled onto him, even through the thick Viking garb, Toothless could tell the boy was ice cold, it had seemed as if life had left him altogether. Fear struck the dragon, and panic overwhelmed him. Careful not to put pressure onto the spear that had punctured his chest, Toothless returned his attention to his flight path. With no way to change direction, he settled upon maintaining his current bearing, shooting off into the nearby wood, intent on protecting his precious cargo with every ounce of his body.

XXXXXX

Astrid had seen every second of the horrifying scene, one moment she had heard Hiccup and Toothless come screaming out from the sky, the next second she saw Hiccup had thrown himself from the saddle, and in that moment she realized what he had done, shocked, on the verge of tears, and eternally grateful all at once. Before she could react, she saw Toothless swoop down and dash of into the wood with the dying boy. Taking her Nadder down to the front lines, she began scanning the crowd for the Viking Chief, Stoick the Vast. His girth unmistakable, Astrid found him amongst a group of other men guiding the battle. But it seemed that recent events didn't go unbeknownst to the massive man. It seemed that Stoick was trying to arrange a search party at the moment of Astrid's arrival.

"We'll need at least twelve men, split into four groups of three and then comb the forest, is that clear?"

Most seemed quick to agree with the man, as concerned for Hiccup as he was, but there wasn't a complete consensus amongst the people. One such naysayer spoke up, voicing his opinion.

"Stoick, we understand, and we feel you pain, but you've got to realize, there's no surviving that, the poor boy is dead."

"What?" Stoick responded, his voice reaching a quiet and extremely dangerous tone.

Treading lightly, the man took notice of the Chief's tone, choosing his next words carefully, he went on.

"You've got to be honest with yourself here, it's a tragedy, to be sure, but Hiccup played his part, and we have a battle to finish here, it would be foolish to completely throw this away over one person, and a shame to him, we need you here."

For a few seconds, the air was thick enough to cut with a knife, but the atmosphere was broken when Stoick lashed out. A single meaty hand gripped the man around the neck, the other raising his massive warhammer above his head, fury burning in his eyes.

"YOU DON'T TELL ME THAT!" Stoick cried, and for a moment it seemed his anger would get the best of him.

"Don't do it!" Astrid plead desperately, leaping down from her dragon and running toward the Chief. Before she reached him though, another intervened.

"Just calm down." Gobber said, placing a hand on Stoick's shoulder. Lowering his hammer and taking his hand off the man's throat.

"You go, I'll take care of things here."

In the moment, it became apparent that Stoick was ashamed of himself, his shoulders slumped, and self hatred apparent in his features.

"Thank you, my friend." Stoick muttered.

XXXXXX

The situation was grim, Toothless had managed to avoid agitating the boy further when they landed in the woods, but from what he could see he was already far gone. Eyes dark and skin chalky, it seemed that all life had left the young boy, but Toothless still kept hold of the boy with all importance placed upon him.

Rain began to fall and Toothless moved quick. Bounding deeper into the trees, Toothless found a small cave that would serve well as shelter for the night, dragging Hiccup in first and then shuffling in after him. Breathing fire onto a rock in the back of the cave until it glowed bright orange. Finally taking the opportunity to study his rider carefully, Toothless couldn't help but cringe. The boy he'd known to be so lively, so happy, seeing him like this was heartbreaking.

At this point, Toothless was desperate, he would give anything to have Hiccup back. Wouldn't he? It was something he had only heard of, legends and fantasy amongst dragonkind, he wouldn't even know where to start. But time was wasting, Hiccup hadn't been gone for long, but he knew he couldn't perform this at his leisure. With the light dwindling in the cave, Toothless stood over the boy. Gripping the spear in his jaws, Toothless pulled it free of the boy's chest, snapping it in two and tossing it aside. This was the tricky part, the spear had pierced Hiccup's heart, Toothless would be giving his own heart, his very life to the boy, there would be no coming back from such a decision. If it was to get Hiccup back, he could do this. Finally settling his mind and making peace, Toothless spread a patch of scales on his chest and pressed an ebony claw to the skin beneath it. Bracing himself, the dragon pushed straight through, exposing a broad gaping wound. With that, Toothless pressed the identical wounds on his and Hiccup's chests to each other. A second passed, then another. Before long, Toothless was unsure of it would work at all, but at the last minute, any doubt was crushed as he felt a heat well up in his chest, consuming him. It grew hotter and hotter, and even though he was a dragon, the heat was near unbearable, it felt as if he would burn up in such an inferno, and it felt as if it would never end, just at this point, the heat subsided and a heavy throbbing settled in the center of his chest.

Picking himself up and away from the cave floor and Hiccup, Toothless was almost afraid to see the result of his handiwork. Cracking an eye, he peered down at the boy. Where there used to be the wound from the spear, there was now a patch of seared skin, in the center of which was a long pink scar, mimicked on Toothless' own chest. But what sent a feeling of pure ecstasy through the dragon, was a pink flush that had spread to Hiccup's limbs, and his breast rose and fell with deep breaths. And before Toothless knew it, the boy's eyelids began to flutter as he slowly regained consciousness.

XXXXXX

The last thing Hiccup remembered was darkness closing in on him, and then nothing, he felt the weapon hit him and death's caress upon him. But now he was coming to, was this Asgard? Slowly his vision was coming into focus, but before he could make anything out, he heard a voice, deep and resonate, coming from a large black spot in the center of his vision, he was about to call out to it, but instead, it spoke first.

"Hiccup, Hiccup can you hear me?"

XXXXXX

Things were getting clearer to Hiccup, his vision was finally coming into focus, he was thinking more clearly, and feeling was coming back to his body, particularly his chest, where a heavy throb had settled, and now wouldn't quit. But the most curious thing that had piqued his interest, was the black smudge, which had now taken center stage in his vision, almost blotting out everything else, except on the very edges. The strange part, however, was that it seemed to occasionally say words of encouragement to him, sometimes just his name, other times encouraging him to open his eyes, or asking him to get up, but it was always friendly, and somehow familiar.

Hiccup was finally feeling rejuvenated, he could clench and unclench his hands, he was moving his right foot, and the rest of his body was regaining feeling. So in a bold move, Hiccup pressed himself off the cool rock of the cave and stood shakily on foot and prosthetic. For a moment he swayed, as blood began to rush back to his extremities, but it was too much all at once and before Hiccup knew it, he had lost balance and was quickly rushing toward the stone floor. Before he could make rather painful contact, he was stopped short, he had collided with something warm, moving, and scaly? Once he regained his balance, Hiccup settled onto his feet once again, pressing off of the thing that had caught him.

At this point, Hiccup's sight was almost completely in focus, and he got a good look at what was in the cave with him, although he already had his suspicions.

"Toothless?" Hiccup asked dazedly, in relief.

Staring down at his best friend, a wave of happiness overcame him, a smile crept over his lips as he reached down to pet his friend on the snout. Before his hand reached it though, a voice spoke to him, and it came from Toothless.

"Hiccup, are you alright?"

Taken aback, and absolutely shocked, Hiccup stood there, his hand still poised above the Night Fury, Hiccup couldn't help but stare at the dragon.

"Alright, there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for this," Hiccup said, turning his back on the dragon, lacing his fingers behind his head as his breathing increased to hysterical levels.

"Yeah, I've got it, I fell. Yeah, that's it, I fell and hit my head." Glancing back at Toothless and remembering what happened not a second before, Hiccup added, "Really hard."

Turning back around, Hiccup plopped down onto the cave floor and stared at Toothless, who had remained silent since Hiccup had started to lose his composure.

"Yep, this is all just part of my overactive imagination." Hiccup said, eyes still transfixed on the dragon, "I'm going to wake up any second now in my house, in bed, head wrapped up and being chastised by my Dad for being an idiot."

"Yeah, that's exactly what's going to happen." Hiccup reassured himself, sighing. After a few seconds though, Hiccup couldn't help but question his own theory. "So why am I still here?"

Getting up and looking around Hiccup tried to shake himself from what he still thought was a rather strange dream. Looking out of the cave mouth and into the rain, Hiccup held his hands out and let the water pool in his palms, taking what little hadn't seeped through the gaps in his fingers, he splashed it on his face, trying in vain to shock himself from his state. All the while Toothless stood by chuckling to himself as Hiccup tried to make heads or tails of the situation. Losing patience, Hiccup turned back to face the dragon.

"Alright." Hiccup said, crossing his arms, "Explain yourself, start talking."

For a little while, Toothless stared carelessly at Hiccup, disregarding, as if he hadn't a clue what Hiccup was talking about.

"Well?" Hiccup asked, fed up.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Toothless replied, gazing off at a stone wall that had suddenly become desperately interesting to the dragon.

"Great," Hiccup said, throwing his arms into the air, "My dragon's a smartass."

"Well that's harsh, you give me the cold shoulder, and then you insult me, I'm crushed Hiccup."

"So, I'm not-"

"No." Toothless interrupted.

"Then what-, happened?" Hiccup asked, trailing off as he recalled the events that had happened earlier that day.

"Wait wait wait," Hiccup said as reality dawned on him, "No no no, something's wrong here, no I remember now. We were in the battle, it was almost over-And, and I jumped."

Stopping for a second Hiccup shook his head. A panic came over Hiccup, he backed away, flattening himself against the back face of the cave, his chest heaved as the young Viking boy began to hyperventilate.

"No I remember now, I took that spear for Astrid, I DIED."

Concern washed over Toothless, getting up, he began to approach the panicking boy.

"Hiccup, just calm down, you'll-"

Pressing himself further against the rock, Hiccup was all but hysterical now, visible beads of sweat ran down the bow, leaving streaks where they crept down his skin.

"NO STAY AWAY FROM ME!" The boy cried, pressing himself further up the wall, which seemed nearly impossible at that point.

Toothless realized his presence would only serve to distress the poor boy further, so backing away, he let Hiccup settle down, slowly slumping off the wall he had nearly become attached to. His breathing slowed, and Toothless could tell Hiccup was settling down, but he dare not talk or approach him. For a moment, Hiccup merely settled, letting his breath reach a level state. By chance, Hiccup's hand came to rest on his hammering heart, which was something Toothless had feared. Once more shock found its way onto the boy's face, fingers traced over the long scar and with every second his hand lingered, a look of horror developed further. Looking up to Toothless, Hiccup was distraught.

"What did you do to me?"


	2. Chapter 2

Stoick and Astrid had trudged through the thick wood for the better part of two hours and still had not yet found any sign of Hiccup. Both walked in dead silence, Stoick, out of grim determination toward the task at hand, and Astrid, for fear of what she might have to tell the man. Hiccup was special to her, she had fallen in love with the twiggy Viking boy, and her heart soared just to be around him at times. But she knew that Hiccup was just as important to Stoick, Hiccup was the last of kin in the Haddock line, and it would undoubtedly devastate the man to lose the last of his family, especially after his wife had passed on so early. But it was a truth both she and Stoick knew in their heart, if anything, this was now a search for a body, not a person, but Astrid didn't have the stomach to tell him. There was something else in Stoick as well, but she couldn't quite put her finger on, it was guilt, she knew that much, she had seen it in Hiccup hundreds, if not thousands of times. Self-loathing and disgust, that he couldn't stand being around himself, that was what she saw in the large man that walked beside her. At that moment, it occurred to Astrid; Stoick felt responsible for Hiccup's death, whether by extension or feeling of inaction, that was without a doubt what locked Stoick's jaw at this point. However, this silence didn't last forever.

"I'm sorry, about back there." Stoick murmured, not looking over to Astrid, seemingly in shame of himself. "I let my temper get the best of me. I shouldn't have, but, I couldn't think about-That."

Stopping for a moment, as if in reflection, Stoick stared down at his feet, before heaving a deep breath and hefting his massive hammer to clear a particularly troublesome patch of branches and saplings that marred their path. Continuing on, not even bothering to acknowledge whether Astrid was listening or not, Stoick spoke, as if it was more to himself than anyone in particular.

"I won't be able to live with myself, I was more than my fair share of horrible to the boy for the longest time. I go off and nearly get him killed once, but apparently I wasn't quite satisfied with that, because now I had to go off and do it again!"

Punctuating the end of his sentence by swinging his hammer into the nearest tree, splintering and cracking a large portion of bark and pulp underneath, heaving a great sigh when he finally settled back into his consistent walking pace. Fears confirmed, Astrid knew this was killing the man, she had to say something, anything to try and bring him back from the new attitude he had adopted. So finally, she broke her silence as well.

"Hiccup is his own man, you know, he's just as stubborn, tough, and bull headed as you!" Astrid exclaimed, guffawing in emphasis. It seemed this didn't reassure the Viking chief, because a self-loathing disappointment had settled on his features. Astrid continued.

"He knew well what he was getting into, and he did it of his own will."

Stopping once again, Stoick stared longingly into the distance.

"I know, but I still feel responsible, if I could have done something, anything! Anything would be better than this, kept him out of the battle, tied him up and left him home. Even if he hated me for the rest of his life for it, it would be better than this."

"No one could have seen this coming." Astrid said as she walked toward Stoick, grasping the large man's forearm, "Not you, not me, not Hiccup, you did your best for your people and for your son."

"Thank you, Astrid, I know Hiccup meant a lot to you too, I guess this is hard for the both of us."

Nodding, Astrid gave Stoick a weak smile to which he returned. The mood was lightened somewhat, but both knew there was still grim business at hand. But both took solace in the mutual understanding they had come to. Together they trudged further into the wood, hearts still heavy with the loss of a close loved one.

"Stoick, look!" Astrid stopped for a moment, pointing out a large section of tree branches that were snapped and broken away from their normal deviation, as if something had trudged past them in a hurry, and further down the hill in front of the trees was a patch of grass, wildflowers, and other assorted plants, through which a peculiarly dragon sized path had been forged.

"Toothless must have been through here." Stoick muttered, to himself more than Astrid, kneeling down as he observed the way the grass had been flattened. Stoick then pressed a palm upon the path, tearing a patch up and inhaling whatever was on it deeply.

"He isn't far off now." Stoick said with exhilaration as he let the blades of green slip from between his fingers. But Astrid was actually worried about Stoick at this point, she wasn't sure why, but Stoick was approaching the situation with a little more fervor than was comfortable, as if he might be delivered a miracle from Odin himself. Then again, it had happened once before, Toothless had saved Hiccup before, plucked him from the balance after the battle with the Green Death. But this was different, both had seen the weapon make contact, both saw the blood flow from his wound, and both saw his life ebb away as he fell. But it seemed Stoick wasn't going to give up hope, and as much Astrid didn't want to accept what had happened, it was hard to deny what was in plain sight, a very undeniable truth, but Astrid wasn't sure if Stoick would be able to handle truly losing his son, it had devastated him when he almost lost the boy, but it would likely break the man when he came to terms with what had happened.

Still, the pair trudged on, once more in silence, determined to reach their destination, following the path that Toothless had carved out before them, both unsure of what they would find at the end, or for that matter what they would do upon reaching Toothless.

"Toothless!"

Astrid hadn't thought about it until this moment, but she didn't think how this might affect the poor dragon. Hiccup was really his best, and for that matter, only friend. Losing Hiccup would rob him of so much as well, Hiccup was the only one who knew the tail fin positions to fly the dragon, Hiccup was probably the only Viking that Toothless truly trusted, so that would likely cause animosity between the rest of the dragons and the Vikings. It dawned on Astrid that Hiccup was far more important than she had realized, more than just a son to Stoick, and more than a boyfriend to her, he was the resolute link between them and the dragons, with him gone they might lose their new found allies sooner than they thought.

It was truly a poor situation that had befallen them, they had lost one of the most important, if not THE most important person in the village.

"Oh Hiccup." Astrid sighed.

XXXXXX

Hiccup had long since passed out from their previous ordeal, the whole matter had taken its toll on the young Viking boy, and now he lay slumped against Toothless, curled up in the fetal position to stay warm. Toothless' stumpy legs wrapped around his small form, leathery wing stretched over him to shield him from the spray of the rain outside.

Hiccup shuffled, shifting as he slipped out of unconsciousness, the boy turned around, Toothless loosening his grip on the boy to allow him to do so, the boy's gaze met the dragon's and half-lidded eyes gazed exasperatedly at the Night Fury.

"You're kidding me." Hiccup said, gaze still locked on the dragon.

Toothless responded with a swift lick across the boy's face, leaving a slick trail of saliva across the boy's face. Hiccup crossed his arms, looking away from the dragon, intent to not crack before him. Equally intent, Toothless nudged the boy, once then again, and again until a small grin found its way onto Hiccup's face, chuckling as Toothless carried on. Finally, the dragon elicited speech from the boy.

"Alright alright." Hiccup said, scratching the sweet spot on Toothless' neck that was native to all dragons. Toothless slumped for a moment, sighing as his muscles relaxed in reaction.

"Y'know, that's a rather rude way of getting to me." Hiccup said, looking away from the dragon.

"I thought it was rather amusing." Toothless replied, peering down at Hiccup.

Sitting up, once again sobered to the events that had taken place, Hiccup's voice took a much more serious tone than before.

"So I guess this isn't all in my mind." Hiccup said, sitting up in his dragon's hold.

Nodding his head in response, Toothless looked truthfully down at Hiccup.

"And I suppose you did this too?" Hiccups asked, his own had once more wandering curiously over the seared pink flesh on his chest.

Once more, Toothless nodded although this time, a look of concern flashed over the dragon's features, Toothless did his best to hide it, but as he did so, he knew it only became that much more obvious to Hiccup. Although before the boy could get a word in edgewise, it was Toothless who took the initiative and spoke first, though only briefly.

"Stoke a fire, and then I'll tell you."

With a little help from Toothless, Hiccup had succeeded in lighting a pile of the wet branches he had gathered from the ground outside the cave. Small pops and hisses of boiling water that hadn't been seared off by Toothless popped as the heat engulfed and evaporated the lingering drops.

"Well, I'm not sure how to say this," Toothless muttered, despite the preparation he had put himself through, trying to will himself into telling the boy the truth about what had happened, it was harder than he could imagine, it was true that the worst was out of the way, but Hiccup had been through a lot, dying generally takes a heavy toll on a person. Toothless returned his gaze once more to the Viking, as he did, he was met with a determined, yet soft face. Toothless could tell Hiccup wanted to know, and not doing so would be an unjust act to the boy. So he spoke, staring Hiccup straight in the eyes.

"It was something I heard about as a young child." Toothless began, a reminiscent and glassiness coming over his own visage.

"If anything it was more of a legend, the power of healing and life, stories told to us of dragons long ago, the power we had that had been lost upon us, whether by our submission to the queen and her line, or maybe it was a cruel curse by the gods. In any case, the knowledge was lost to us."

"So, how did you know how to do- this?" Hiccup said, gesturing to his chest.

"Honestly?" Toothless muttered, "I didn't, I was desperate, I saw what had happened and, I just couldn't bear it. I went with my instincts, this is the result of what I did, I actually wasn't even sure if it was going to work out to begin with."

"Healing only goes so far though, I was dead, what exactly did you do?" Hiccup asked, still not quite satisfied with the answer Toothless had given him.

"My heart." Toothless sighed out, once more averting his eyes, "I gave you my heart, my life lives through you, you hadn't been gone for long, so I gave my life for yours."

Shocked, Hiccup once more examined the wound on his chest, gaining a new bearing on what it meant, as well as a new appreciation for his dragon.

"So that means, your heart," Hiccup said, pausing to shakily point a finger at Toothless. "Is inside me?"

Reaffirming his statement, Toothless nodded his wide dragon head, getting up off the stone floor to expose his own breast, and a wide scar that mirrored the one on Hiccup's chest. The pair sat in silence, Hiccup guffawing at the selfless act the Night Fury had done to save him, while Toothless sat with eyes screwed shut, awaiting what the Viking boy would have to say.

Would he force Toothless away for making him into a crime against nature? Of course he wouldn't, Toothless reassured himself, that simply wasn't like Hiccup. But what if just this once the boy lost his patience, had had enough with dragons and the ilk? More and more irrational self-doubt crept into Toothless' mind, until he was at the breaking point, he couldn't take it anymore.

Finally, he felt something small connect with his front, a consistent pressure and warmth that had latched on. The dragon opened his eyes and saw Hiccup attached to his broad, scaly chest, hugging him for all he was worth.

"You've done so much, you saved me once before, and now you've given up a part of yourself for my life. Thank you boy."

XXXXXX

A cry in the distance caught the attention of both Stoick and Astrid, making her heart skip a beat, and undoubtedly setting Stoick's mind alight with possibilities. Now, Astrid too couldn't help but question her previous notion. Granted, there were any number of things that could have made that sound, but she was eager to have any reason to believe that Hiccup was still alive, doubt still remained, but Astrid would seize any reason to not have to face this horrific truth. So with renewed vigor, the pair trudged toward the source of the cry, determination was now the only emotion shown by Stoick.

As the two went deeper into the woods, they didn't have the guidance of the cry any more, there were numerous points where they thought that they had lost the trail outright, but Stoick was an expert tracker, and it was mere minutes before he noticed bark removed from the wrong side of a tree, grass laying in the wrong direction, or a branch that had been split in two. Some clues as to Toothless' whereabouts weren't so easy to spot however, once, the only thing that allowed them to regain their bearing was a single resolute scale that sat pressed into the mud that Astrid had spotted by pure chance. Rain still fell around them, filtering through the high canopy of leaves and pooling in small puddles about their feet. It had undoubtedly been hours since they had set off, Astrid's heart went out to Gobber and the rest of the warriors of Berk, but her mind was still dead set on the task at hand.

"There!" Stoick said, pointing out a cave that was a little ways down the short slope they stood on. What was more, the tell-tale orange glow flickered from the opening, casting changing shadows on the walls within.

"Come on." Eagerly, and before Astrid could protest, Stoick snatched her up with one beefy arm, slinging the considerably smaller Viking girl over his shoulder and quickly sliding down the mud-slicked hill.

Returned to her feet, Astrid took her place at Stoick's side, and with baited breath, they approached the cave, wary of what they would find inside. Rounding the corner into the opening, they were immediately met with the massive lumbering form of Toothless, and clutched protectively close to him was Hiccup. Astrid nearly lost it then and there, Hiccup was an unbearable sight, dried blood was caked almost every inch of his body, his once white shirt was unrecognizable, and his head lolled carelessly off on his shoulder. Tears began to collect at the edge of Astrid's eyes, and she had the suspicion that the same was happening to Stoick, for he had slowly walked up to the boy and sleeping dragon, dropping to his knees. Suspicions confirmed, the vast chief began to openly weep, and Astrid wouldn't have been far behind, had she not noticed something that seemed rather out of place, Hiccups chest seemed to rise and fall in a steady rhythm, in addition to that, his face occasionally twitched, as if-

"Stoick, look!" Astrid whispered excitedly, shaking the man by the shoulder. As he turned his head upright to look at the boy, Hiccup began to stir, stretching and moaning as if he was being woken from a particularly pleasant dream.. Disbelief dawned on Stoick, and his jaw had nearly parted company with the rest of his head, and various forms of nonsense and babble fell from him as he tried to express his shock and awe at the scene unfolding before him. Hiccup now sat upright, though eyes still screwed shut rather tight. He gave one last stretch before rubbing the sleep from his eyes, finally seeming to realize what was going on.

"Dad?" Hiccup asked, rather groggily.

Without answer Stoick leaped forth, wrenching Hiccup from Toothless' grasp and taking him into a bone crushing hug.

"Don't ever scare me like that again, don't ever..." Stoick muttered through sobs as he and his son embraced.

Astrid was relieved as well, she had barely held out hope, but in the end, all of her fears had been assuaged. But again, there was something out of place, rather than join in the moment of merriment, he instead opted to sit cowering at the back of the cave. Toothless finally realized Astrid's eyes were upon him and briefly met her stare before averting his gaze, and slumping once more to the cave floor. Astrid knew he had done something, there was a shame in his face that was almost exactly as Hiccup's. It was a dead giveaway, and Astrid would eventually get to the bottom of it, but that was for another time, and this thought was pushed from her mind as joy from the sheer reality of Hiccup's miraculous survival overcame her.

XXXXXX

Hiccup's miraculous survival became something of a legend amongst the people of Berk. Shortly after Gobber had spearheaded the tail end of the battle, all focus shifted to Stoick, Hiccup, and Astrid, all of whom had disappeared not long before the end of the battle. Various rumors had already begun to spread amongst the warriors, rumors of Stoick having finally lost it, due to Hiccup's death. Doubt and dissent spread amongst the most the more unfaithful men. Gobber did what he could to discourage such ideas, but as the hours dragged on, even some of the more faithful were beginning to question their chief. However, all were relieved when they saw the troop of four trekking out of the forest. Cheers and and merriment accompanied their arrival, many even bursting into tears of relief, though they would never admit to it when confronted about it.

Stoick had insisted Hiccup remain bedridden and waited upon by the town healer, despite Hiccup's pleas that he felt fine, but Stoick had made his decision and wouldn't hear otherwise. During all the hubbub Toothless had been ejected from his spot beside Hiccup's bed. The healer claimed the dragon was, "throwing off her concentration," because of the emotions he was giving off. It had taken a lot, but Toothless grumpily made his way out of the room to the pens with the other dragons, snarling at the occasional passerby.

Though Toothless knew this was only temporary, it did nothing to help soften his mood, his place was by Hiccup's side, and here he was laying down with straw irritating his underside, while his human was doted over by his people. Grumbling and resting his head upon his front legs, the dragon adjusted himself, getting comfortable as he let sleep take it's hold on him. But it was not to be, Toothless had barely closed his eyes before he heard soft footsteps upon the stone floor.

Cracking an eye, Toothless was met with Astrid kneeling down to almost eye level with him, forearms rested upon her knees, an unamused look painted on her face. Exasperatedly, Toothless rested his jaw back down, laying his ears flat to his head, and awaited whatever it was that the girl had come for.

"I'm not an idiot you know." Astrid said, eyes still fixed upon the dragon, "I know you did something to Hiccup, and for whatever reason, he's going to keep it to himself. Frankly, when Hiccup keeps secrets, I know there's something off, just remember, I've got my eye on you."

With that Astrid popped up from where she sat, and with nary a backward glance, left the pen.


	3. Chapter 3

It had been around a week when Stoick finally thought it was fine for Hiccup to continue on with his normal life. Although Hiccup worried, sometimes, while under the scrutiny of the healer, the old woman's apparent divinations would be shockingly accurate, or she would gurgle out an occasional cryptic sentence while overlooking his body. One time in particular made his new heart skip a beat or two. The old woman's hand settled upon the telltale scar that he head received from Toothless searing the wound from the spear shut. Upon staying there, a look of horror and shock spread across her face, subtly at first, and then distorting her face altogether. Snatching her hand back away from the boy, she only stared at the boy. Finally, she leveled a bony finger at Hiccup,

"You! One has fallen from grace for you, and would go even further," Her finger trembled, her entire body following suit not long after, "you can hardly begin to fathom the depth for which they care for you."

And as if nothing had ever happened, she continued about her business, leaving only minutes after and bidding Hiccup a warm farewell as she did. Stoick never found out about the incident, and it seemed as if Hiccup was the only one who remembered it. He tried to ask the healer about it the day after, but she seemed oblivious to the events that had happened, merely regarding Hiccup with the same professional attitude. But he was relieved, his secret was apparently still safe with him, and if the healer did know, she did a good job of hiding it.

Time passed though, and tight knot of worry that had settled in the pit of his stomach had finally loosened as he became more assured as to the security of his secret. But the bedridden life wore on Hiccup, even when the times he was sick, he felt a longing for the outdoors, and that was only exacerbated by the fact that in the week following the incident with Toothless, he'd felt the best he had in a long time. But most did their best to make the best of Hiccup's bad situation, Astrid made it her mission to keep him company whenever she had the chance, and Stoick made it abundantly clear that he this was for Hiccup's own good. While Hiccup understood his father's good intentions, it didn't change the fact that he was still shut up indoors all day when he was perfectly healthy, better than healthy even! But one of the most reassuring things helped Hiccup out of his grumpy mood was none other than Toothless.

Despite being ejected from the home by the healers, the dragon still found ways to keep an ever vigilant eye on the boy, some off his methods becoming rather comical at times. At first, he found a perch on a ledge that hung out over one of the windows in Hiccup's room, hanging off of it with his head lolled over, peeking into the house within. For a while, Toothless made that his position to watch over Hiccup, that is until the bindings gave way and a mass of wood and dragon came tumbling down with an almighty crash. Toothless then found a new spot atop the neighbor's roof, casually clutching the wooden shingles with his limbs as he balanced his body on the peak. This too didn't last for long, because the house's inhabitants weren't oblivious to what had happened to the last place Toothless had sat, and regularly came out to shoo the dragon when they found him there. At last, Toothless had finally resigned to climbing in to Hiccup's room during the night and taking his place by the boy's side. While the healers still objected to this for reasons unknown, Stoick did not, knowing how much the dragon helped the boy.

"Toothless?" Hiccup said groggily, waking up as the dragon alighted upon the floor, setting wide head on the boy's bed.

"Yes." The dragon replied, settling down on the rug that covered most of the floor.

Sitting up in his bed, Hiccup reached down to Toothless, scratching the dragon behind the ear, who instinctively reacted with pleasure, pushing into the relieving touch, closing his eyes as he did. Hiccup reveled in the moment, letting a smile spread across his lips before he allowed the depth of the situation to dawn on him, and the smile turned to a fleeting line.

"How are we going to get out of this?" Hiccup asked, hand still making it's way around Toothless' head, petting, and occasionally stopping to scratch spots that had become known as key points on a dragon. For a few moments, Toothless obliviously let Hiccup go about his business, before finally pulling away from the boy's touch, and assuming a much more imposing stature.

"How do you mean?" Toothless asked seriously.

"C'mon, don't play this game with me now." Hiccup replied, now outright sitting up and out of the bed, facing Toothless, "My Dad and everyone might be relieved now, but once that wears off, they'll start asking questions."

"Astrid already has." Toothless interjected.

"You see, that's what I'm talking abo- Wait, she did?"

"Yes." Toothless answered rather dismissively, "She came to the stable the other night."

Toothless was absentmindedly licking his front leg when he said this, not seemingly concerned with the implications it had upon the human boy, but upon looking up to the boy he noticed the worry written all over him.

"She had your best interest in mind though." Toothless reassured him.

"That's not what I'm worried about." Hiccup said, a tone of exasperation dripping from his every word. "We don't need anyone knowing about this, least of all Astrid, we don't want people going around asking questions, because it's going to be a little hard explaining away how I survived a spear to the chest."

"Did you ever consider telling them the truth?" Toothless asked, now apparently finished with his self-cleansing.

"Yeah, I'm sure that would go over well with everyone." Hiccup snorted, crossing his arms and turning his nose up at the idea.

"Oh hey Dad, hey Astrid! You want to know how I survived getting shot and got this scar? Oh it was no big deal, Toothless used an ability that was thought to have been lost to dragons for generations and now I have the heart of a dragon inside me." All of this was said in an exaggerated manner, Hiccup guffawing and throwing his hands up to express his dissenting opinion of the idea.

"Brilliant." Hiccup finally ended punctually.

"You don't have to be such an ass, it was just a suggestion." Toothless said grumpily, slouching down and curling back up onto the rug.

Immediately regretting the sudden brashness with which he regarded Toothless, he uncrossed his arms and knelt down in front of Toothless, embracing the entirety of the dragon's wide head.

"I'm sorry boy." Hiccup apologized, "This is all just really taxing."

"I understand, Hiccup." With a quick pounce Toothless had Hiccup wrapped in his embrace once more, Hiccup groaning under the attention of his dragon.

"I still think it was a stupid idea." Hiccup said.

In response, Toothless merely rolled over, pinning the boy beneath him when Hiccup began to sputter as the air was pushed from his lungs.

-break line-

"Out, out! Out out out!"

If it hadn't been for Toothless having him in a death grip, Hiccup would have hit the ceiling. Hiccup had fallen asleep on the floor, Toothless pinning him down, only to wake up to the old healer attempting to shoo his dragon from the roost. But it seemed as if Toothless wasn't biting, merely staring with half-lidded eyes, ears flat against his skull.

"I said no dragons inside and what is this? A dragon! Out I say!"

Toothless stared a little while longer, the same blank look still pasted to him, before he glanced down at Hiccup.

"You'd better go boy." Hiccup said, patting Toothless in encouragement. "Don't worry I'll see you again soon."

With a swift nod, the dragon jumped from his spot from the floor and leaped out the window, leaving Hiccup with the brooding healer, who had now taken to mumbling to herself.

"Uhm, yeah, sorry about that." Hiccup apologized, anxiously running a hand through his hair.

"I told Stoick," She seemingly said to the air, "I told him no dragons, and what do I find in here? A dragon. Do people ever listen to me? No, who would listen to an old geezer like me, I only devoted my entire life to this study, but that's not good enough is it? No, not at all, everyone knows better than me."

"Uhm, sorry?" Hiccup repeated.

"It doesn't matter now, I'm finished here. I would have wanted to keep you in longer, but Stoick said it wouldn't be fair to keep you shut in any longer."

"So, you're done with me?" Hiccup asked.

"Until you do something else stupid, yes." The healer answered, still bustling about, collecting the various items she had scattered about Hiccup's room.

Immediately, Hiccup threw on his pants and leather shoes, flying down the stairs and darting for the door, much to the healer's dismay, who muttered something about him "doing something stupid." Leaping into the midday sunlight, Hiccup breathed in the scent of the outdoors and reveled in the liberating feeling of being outside. It wasn't to say that his room was suffocating, but it was the fact that he wasn't allowed to do anything that was the most suffocating.

Now finally freed from his temporary internment, Hiccup couldn't help but drink in the atmosphere around him. Setting off again, Hiccup made his way to the stable where he knew Toothless had made his temporary home. Throwing the door open, it seemed Toothless had just made himself comfortable upon the straw that lined the stone floor.

"Toothless, let's go for a ride!' Hiccup yelled enthusiastically.

Toothless looked up, not even needing words to describe the amount of spite he held for the boy at that moment, but humored him anyway.

"You're joking." Toothless said bluntly.

"This is the first time in over a week I've been outside, and suddenly, you don't want to fly. I thought all dragons loved to fly!"

Looking away, Toothless seemed to contemplate the idea for a moment before conceding to his boy.

"Fine." Toothless sighed.

In minutes, Hiccup had Toothless saddled up and only moments after the pair had taken to the skies once more. All of Hiccup's worries melted away as they looked down at the small island village of Berk sprawl away beneath them.

Hiccup let the wind rush away past him, reminding him so much of the things he loved, the liberating feeling of flight, this was freedom at it's most refined level.

Eager to get back into the swing of his old ability, Hiccup began to put Toothless through his paces, rocking back, he adjusted the pedals, taking the dragon into a steep dive, his heart- or rather Toothless' heart, hammered inside his chest. The adrenaline rushed through every inch of his body, higher thought was lost to the instinctual responses that had been ingrained into him by all the time spent flying with Toothless. Feeling adventurous, Hiccup banked deeper, wind rippling past Toothless' leathery wings, leveling off, the pair settled down to a low altitude, skimming over the surface of the water, the spray of the sea wetting his face.

And despite his protests, it was clear Toothless was enjoying this as well, the light spritzing of water knocking much of the built up grime off of his body, shaking the water free, Toothless gave a quick barrel roll, much to his boy's. Hiccup normally would have chastised him, but knew Toothless had to feel as liberated as him, and he just felt too good, not wanting to spoil the moment of joy.

The two spent most of the afternoon in the sky, easily losing track of time amongst the clouds, had it not been for a gradual descent, Hiccup would have egged Toothless on further, but he could see the fatigue settling in on the dragon. After deciding to return home, Hiccup realized just how much Toothless had been hiding his lack of energy. So much so, Hiccup was doubtful they would make it back to Berk by nightfall, and with Winter not far off in the distance, night was coming earlier and earlier every day. So with well-being in mind, Hiccup gently guided Toothless into the forest below. Alighting on the ground, he looked about for a place to hole up for the night. As he and Toothless gazed about, an air of familiarity surrounded Hiccup, something about the trees and the lay of the land seemed all too similar to a place he'd been before.

Jumping down from Toothless, Hiccup took a tentative step into the wood, due to the spongy ground and the hours he spent immobile on his dragon's back, he took a few wobbling steps before he regained his "land legs." Toothless slowly trotted along behind him as he watched Hiccup take in his surroundings. Resting against a boulder for a moment, Hiccup kept walking, until the path before him seemed to end, now he overlooked a lake set into a gouge in the land. Now he remembered, this was the grotto where he had first met Toothless, a nostalgic sense ran over him, looking back to the boulder he had just passed, he remembered cutting him free, the patch of dirt still broke up from the dragon's struggle. He hadn't been to the grotto in so long, ever since the defeat of the Green Death, Toothless had simply stayed with him, so he needn't come back to the grotto. But now that he did, a feeling of peace and belonging returned to him, with so many pleasant memories.

Slowly, Hiccup descended into the grotto, Toothless not far behind.

"It has been a while, hasn't it buddy?" Hiccup said over his shoulder.

Nodding, Toothless settled down into the grotto with Hiccup.

-break line-

Despite the hour being particularly late Toothless and Hiccup lay up reminiscing deep into the night, a fire sported from Toothless crackling a short way from the pair, warding off the biting cold of the Berk night.

"And then my father got up, slamming that big hammer he always carries against the cage, spooking the Monstrous Nightmare. At that point I thought I was a goner, Astrid busted in to try and save me, even my father did all he could, but then you came in and fought it off. The stupid things I do." Hiccup heaved a heavy sigh at this point.

"But I guess it's not all bad, if I didn't throw caution to the wind and do stupid things, I wouldn't have ever met- you." Hiccup's voice trailed off as he finished his sentence, an obvious despairing in it's tone, one that didn't go unnoticed by Toothless.

"What?" The dragon pressed.

"It's nothing." Hiccup said, "But it's just that, if you had never met me, you wouldn't be crippled like you are, you'd be able to fly on your own."

"Well, I guess it's true what they say, an eye for an eye, and all that." Toothless said, his own voice wavering.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Hiccup asked.

"I'm sorry Hiccup, I did what I could, but I panicked." Toothless whispered, almost on the verge of tears it seemed.

"Toothless, what are you talking about?"

-break line-

Their plan had worked to perfection, the Green Death had taken the bait, fell to Earth, and in a spectacular crescendo, was set alight by Toothless, combusting on impact with the beach below. Even in this moment of victory though, they were still not out of danger, with all his might, Toothless flapped upward, pulling out of the range of the massive fireball that threatened to engulf them. Now with the leather tailfin burnt to cinders, it was all but useless, forcing the dragon to overcome the resistance it now gave. But it seemed luck was on their side, they were going to make it, clear sky shone from beyond the smoke and flame that surrounded them. However, in a cruel twist of fate, luck turned against them. Just as they were about to make it to safety, the massive crushing tail of the Green Death came down to meet them head on. Hiccup did all he could to try an avoid the limb, but to no avail, the burned fin merely gave a few pitiful shakes before pulling free altogether. In a massive collision, the tail knocked Hiccup from Toothless' back, sending them both into tumbling free-fall.

Panicking and distraught, Toothless flailed for a moment before righting himself, at which point he realized the gravity of the situation. It looked like Hiccup had been knocked unconscious, for he now fell with no resistance, eyes closed and limbs going in any direction they pleased. Pushing on, Toothless kicked up his wings and propelled himself back toward the ground. In an instant, he had almost completely closed the gap between himself and Hiccup's falling frame. Mere feet separated the dragon from the boy, but the ground below was fast approaching as well. Stretching a leg out, Toothless reached, snatching at the boy, missing, precious seconds being lost, but the gap closing further. Snatching for him once again, Toothless felt contact, and immediately clamped down with all his strength, drawing the boy in whilst simultaneously spreading his wings to soften what was certainly going to be a hard impact

With a very abrupt stop, Toothless still holding onto Hiccup for all he was worth, made contact with pebbled beach, smoke and cinders falling all around them. Dazed from the impact, Toothless opened his wings to look down at his precious cargo. But as he did, even in his condition, he knew something was wrong, his front legs were covered in a red, caked on substance, blood. At that point, he feared for the worst, his eyes fell upon what he feared the most, Hiccup's left leg was severed at the ankle, a bloody stump where Toothless' claws had severed the limb. Toothless looked on in horror, ever regretful of what he had done.

-break line-

"If you hate me for it, I under-" Toothless was cut off by Hiccup jumping up to embrace him. They sat there for a moment, fire crackling in the background, until Hiccup finally spoke.

"You saved my life, so many times now. You needn't apologize for anything."


	4. Chapter 4

Astrid was not a happy camper. Or at least she tried to come across as such as she stomped through Berk. More and more she had the feeling that she was surrounded by idiots. Well, that was a bit harsh. The people of Berk might not have been the brightest bunch, but they got by, rather well in fact. But Astrid couldn't help but be frustrated with the current state of affairs. No matter how much she tried to persuade, no matter how much evidence was in her favor, nobody would see the truth that there was something amiss with Hiccup. Everything was out in the open, Hiccup had miraculously survived an all but fatal event, and was spending more time with Toothless than ever. It was almost a mirror of when he had first met Toothless.

Suddenly, a shocking thought went through Astrid. She was literally trying to find a reason to be suspicious of Hiccup, of all people, she should be trusting and caring of the boy.

"I don't like things being hid from me, as his girlfriend, I have the right to know." Astrid said to herself.

But no matter how much she tried to justify it in her own mind, she still couldn't shake the deep guilt that had settled like a weight in the pit of her stomach. It was wrong for her to have been fighting tooth and nail to find the worst of a situation given to her by Odin himself, and now all she wanted to do was apologize. To Hiccup, to herself, to Stoick, and anyone who would listen really. She had made something of a complete ass of herself and wanted nothing more than to take it all back.

XXXXXX

_Two days earlier_

Heaving a heavy breath as she mustered up her courage, Astrid approached the heavy oaken door. Her heart beat fast to match the pace at which hundreds of different thoughts and possibilities zipped through her head, but she was still determined. So with more courage then it took to step into a ring full of dragons, Astrid rapped her knuckles three short times on the door to the Haddock household. The house creaked with the shifting weight of someone moving within. A few seconds later what seemed to be a mountain on legs answered the door. An obviously surprised Stoick stood in the doorframe.

"Umm, Astrid, I'm sorry Hiccup isn't here right-"

"Hiccup isn't why I'm here." Astrid snapped quickly, "Or rather, I'm not looking for Hiccup right now, Stoick, there's something you need to know."

Interest obviously piqued, Stoick motioned for Astrid to come inside the house, stepping across the dining room, pulling out a chair at the table as he went to the kitchen, took himself a tankard, and then filled it with a bottle from a nearby shelf. Seating himself at the table, Stoick drank deep from the container then set it back down. Belching loudly, he focused his gaze upon Astrid.

"So, what is it that I need to know?"

Now under the scrutiny of Hiccup's father, Astrid wasn't sure if she could bring herself to tell him. She had long since contemplated the best way tell Stoick of her suspicions, but now they all seemed silly and contrived as she tried to move them from thought to words. Stoick took another deep sip of what Astrid suspected was mead, before speaking again, uttering a single word with more patience than she knew the man to posess.

"Well?" He asked, eyes still trained upon her.

"The thing is," Astrid started, once more stumbling over her own words, "I think there's something going on- with Hiccup and Toothless I mean."

Glad she managed to get thus far, Astrid pressed on.

"There was something off when we found those two, like Toothless was trying to hide something, and Hiccup was being timid- well, more timid than usual, you of all people should know what he's like when he's hiding something. There's something going on Stoick, I know it."

Stoick was in the middle of yet another sip from his large tankard, and rather than set it down with a loud slam, usually spilling its contents onto the table, he merely lowered it to beard level, enough to obscure most of his facial features, gazing longingly into the bottom of it, as if he could find profound meaning in the dregs of his drink.

"I'm not a fool Astrid."

Taken aback by the sudden change of tone in his voice, and what seemed an off topic comment, Astrid merely sat in her seat, bolt upright, wondering what he would have to say.

"It's like you said, of all people I know when Hiccup is hiding something, he was never any good at it, most of the time I simply ignored it."

Shifting in his seat, fidgeting a little, Stoick drained his tankard and set it down haphazardly on the table.

"Toothless too, those two always make everything so obvious."

"Well if you know, why don't you confront them, tell them you know?"

With a quick snap, Stoick locked his eyes back to Astrid, shaking the relaxed state that his drink had brought upon him.

"And tell them I know what? That they're hiding something? Everyone is hiding something Astrid, some things are better off not being known, did you think about that?"

Astrid hadn't, she had been so determined to simply find out what Hiccup was hiding, she didn't bother thinking about what she would do with said knowledge.

"But I'll tell what I do know, that dragon saved Hiccup not once, but twice! I was wrong Astrid, for so long I was mistaken. I always said that Toothless was a devil, a monster who wanted nothing more than to destroy. I can't even begin to say how wrong I was, that dragon is no devil, he's an angel."

XXXXXX

Suspicions assuaged for the time, Astrid still had her own reservations, despite what Stoick had said, curiosity still tug at the back of her mind. Every time, she would smack them back down, but they still remained, no matter how she tried to push them away. Intent to keep such thoughts out of mind, she sought to make it up to Hiccup, not formally, as she would never be able to live down admitting her suspicions to Hiccup, but did it more as an assurance to herself. So with high spirits, Astrid walked toward the dragon ring, for she'd heard from Gobber that was where Hiccup had went after getting off work with him. She had it all planned out, she would approach Hiccup with the intent of a romantic evening and that would be that. Astrid couldn't help but wonder why she felt so nervous about it. She and Hiccup had been involved for some time now, it was perfectly normal for her to want to spend time with him. Maybe it was because she didn't have much prior experience in the field of romance, as she found by method of practice that most Viking problems could be solved with an ax. But this was clearly not such a case. Her nervous heartbeat had finally caught up with here as she approached the dragon pen, stomach knotted and everything inside her feeling as if it had risen several inches.

All of this took a back burner though as she reached a hand out for the heavy iron ring served as handle for the door. As she did so, she heard a voice, Hiccup's voice, coming from within, and he seemed to be having a conversation, with whom she didn't know. Suspicion rose within her once more as she opened the door ever so slightly, peering in through the gap created. She saw Hiccup, he had his good foot braced against Toothless' foreleg, and was pulling for all his might, apparently trying to get his saddle free.

"Would you quit moving?" For a single paranoid moment, Astrid thought Hiccup was talking to her, as she was shifting from side to side, in constant motion, trying to get a better view of Hiccup. She quickly dismissed this as her own panicking mind, and went back to observing.

Toothless gave a short growl and snap of his jaws, Hiccup still trying to free the saddle.

"Well I have to put it on tight, otherwise I'd fall off, do you want that?"

Once more, Toothless gave a short, grunting growl, although this one seemed rather different from the last.

"Hey, don't you start getting smart with me, I'm not the one-"

This time, Toothless gave a long drawn out growl, to which it seemed Hiccup rolled his eyes.

"Okay, yes, I am the one who wanted to go flying, but you're missing the point!"

With a quick upward tug, the strip of leather fastening the saddle down came loose and the whole of the contraption fell off Toothless in a disjointed pile.

"See?" Hiccup said, "Problem solved."

Astrid was awestruck at what she had seen take place, Hiccup was communicating with Toothless! Everyone knew Hiccup had a deeper connection with Toothless than most other riders had with their dragons, but it seemed the two were carrying on a full conversation!

Hiccup had gathered up the straps for the saddle and was now walking toward the gate Astrid stood by. After a brief moment of panic in which she decided on the best way to look as if she hadn't heard her boyfriend and his dragon carrying on a conversation. Until finally, Astrid settled on leaning nonchalantly against stone wall beside the door, arms crossed and trying to return her usual smirk, waiting for Hiccup to pass by.

"Hey Hiccup." She said, as Hiccup was pushing his way back first through the double doors, arms laden with wrinkled leather.

"Oh! Uhm uh, hi Astrid, didn't see you there." He replied, startled by her rather sudden appearance, something that Astrid would have thought he'd be used to by now. Picking up a strap that had gotten away from him during his rather embarrassing surprise meeting with Astrid, he continued;

"So what brings you down here?"

Astrid knew he would ask this, and with all rights. It was a normal question, most people would want to know why a close friend suddenly shows up near them and proceeds to scare the daylights out of them. Astrid knew why she was there, but she was still finding it hard to put into words, for no adequate reason.

"Well, I was wondering- If you would," Pausing for breath, she quickly spat out the next string of words while looking at her feet, "liketospendtheeveningwithme."

"I'm sorry?" Hiccup asked, an eyebrow reaching a rather anomalous height.

"I was wondering if you would spend the evening with me." Astrid repeated, slower, and with a visible blush creeping onto her cheeks.

"Well, of course!" Hiccup said, snorting a little bit, "I was wondering if you'd almost completely forgotten about me!"

"Oh, um yeah. Sorry about that." Astrid apologized, now more ashamed than ever, as she realized she had all but neglected Hiccup as of late.

"So I'll see you around tonight." Hiccup said, returning to his business.

"Yeah, tonight." Astrid muttered.

XXXXXX

"Big plans?" Toothless asked, as he watched Hiccup bustle about, taking care of the last few chores that remained.

"As a matter of fact, yes." Hiccup replied.

"Well?" Toothless pressed, curiosity pushing him to question further.

"Well, if you must know," Hiccup said, heaving a sigh, "I have the evening with Astrid."

"Oh." Toothless said, snorting, ears flattening against his head as he focused elsewhere for the time. "That's GREAT to hear."

"You aren't still hung up about when you first met, are you?" Hiccup asked, suspicious.

"Of course not." Toothless answered, matter-of-factly. "I'm just pointing out that the last thing we need is for someone smarter than most to be hanging around. She's no fool and she'll find out sooner or later what's going on, and mark my words, she'll go and run her mouth."

"That was the past buddy!" Hiccup said, staring Toothless in the eyes. "You're still thinking about that happened, not things that will happen, things have changed, they're different now!"

"I guess you're right." Toothless conceded, admitting defeat it seemed. "Who am I to say what you do with your mate."

With a very sudden and hysterical laugh, Hiccup suddenly changed tone, from eager and striving young man that most knew him as, to the fast talking, stuttering nervous wreck that surfaced when he was embarrassed or trying to hide something.

"Mates?" Hiccup said, giving another insincere laugh, "You've got it all wrong, Astrid and I are friends, I mean, we barely spend any time around each other as it is."

"If you say so." Toothless muttered, bringing his tail up beneath his jaw, "I'm not the one who needs convincing."

"Sometimes I wonder." Hiccup sighed out unexpectedly.

"Hmm?" Toothless asked.

"Astrid didn't pay any attention to me until I was famous amongst the villagers, but even now she barely seems to spend any time with me." Hiccup said "It was a dream come true for me."

Hiccup noticeably shook himself, moving his qualms about his and Astrid's relationship to the back of his mind.

"But that was that and now it's nothing to worry about!"

Toothless could tell Hiccup was still nervous and had his issues with his apparent "relationship." The way he inadvertently moved, constantly shifting his weight, the shallow breaths and the way his eyes darted about the room. The boy lied, he worried, and if Toothless had to guess, he probably worried about it on a regular basis. Hiccup was troubled, but Toothless didn't want to press the issue.

"If you say so." Toothless replied, settling down to take a nap while Hiccup went off to see Astrid for their date.

XXXXXX

Astrid had dredged up what food she could from about Berk, what she managed to procure created a regular buffet in the great hall. Giant turkey legs sat in platters along side bread and a large bottle of mead. Hiccup sat in awe, this was the most food he had seen apart from the festivals they had celebrating various holidays.

"Wow, Astrid, this is, impressive!" Hiccup said, stilling staring down at the smorgasbord, specifically eyeing one of the turkey legs.

"I had to call on a lot of favors, oh and be sure to thank Gobber for me the next time you see him." Noticing slack jawed way Hiccup stared at the food Astrid couldn't help but have a little chuckle. "Hungy?"

"Like you wouldn't believe." Hiccup said, "I've been so busy I haven't had the chance to eat all day."

Astrid motioned toward the wooden bench seat and immediately Hiccup sat down and tore into what at the time he thought was a mountain of food. Astrid sat down, still grinning as she watched Hiccup attack a turkey leg with the ferocity of a dragon, and despite his reputation as a rather small boy, he certainly had a Viking's appetite.

XXXXXX

Toothless was roused from his sleep, particularly dissatisfied as he had just been dreaming about a particularly delicious basket of Icelandic Cod. Night had almost fallen on Berk, for the sky was streaked pink and orange with the fading sun. His stomach gave a deep rumble and Toothless suddenly wished he was still with that basket of fish from his dream. Then again, there was rarely a time when he didn't relish wolfing down a large amount of fish.

So with a quick heave and shake, Toothless picked himself up off the floor of Hiccup's room and departed via his usual method of going out the window in search of something to sate his hunger. From the great hall he could smell the scent of spit roasted turkey, a staple food of the Viking diet. This didn't help Toothless in the slightest, as he was now suffering from hunger pains from the amount of time he had gone without food. Toothless finally settled on making his way down to the dragon ring and snack on whatever was left in the troughs.

Toothless nosed open the wooden doors to the dragon ring, creeping inside. Walking further inside the ring, Toothless came across his prize, a trough of giblets and pieces of assorted animals that had apparently been setting long enough to begin to rot. It wasn't a complete deal breaker though, as Toothless' hunger was almost overpowering at this point, and the stench wasn't enough to deter Toothless from inhaling the food that sat in the trough. Toothless was about halfway through his meal when he heard a shuffling from the back of the pen. He knew other dragons would be about, and dismissed it. What he forgot though, was that despite their now more docile nature, dragons were still territorial creatures. From the back of the ring leaped one of the few Monstrous Nightmares that resided in Berk. Catching Toothless by surprise, it set itself onto the dragon that had invaded its territory, grabbing hold of his back with incredible strength.

Toothless had been caught off guard, but wasn't about to be taken by a lesser creature. Rolling over onto his back, the Nightmare was shook off, but quickly regained a fighting posture. Toothless roared hoping to scare off the other without fighting. But the Monstrous Nightmare was not to be deterred, and for the second time took Toothless by surprise, snapping down his jaws on his midsection.

XXXXXX

"And the look on your face when we took off!" Hiccup shook his head while he paused to take a sip of mead, "Priceless."

Hiccup finished, he and Astrid sharing a hearty laugh.

Suddenly, and without warning, Hiccup fell to the ground, clutching his side, as if struck by an unseen attacker.

"Hiccup? Astrid asked, "HICCUP!"

Hiccup lay on the ground, twitching, curled up in the fetal position. Astrid had got down on one knee and was trying to shake Hiccup from his shock. Astrid rolled him onto his back, he unfurled, but still suffered from his incessant twitching. Slowly he settled, arms lay at his side, legs flattened out. The exact moment he settled, his body contorted, and he roared out with such volume it shook the entire hall around them. Astrid fell back, aghast at such a powerful force coming from Hiccup.

XXXXXX

Toothless pried the Monstrous Nightmare from his body, casting it aside. Quickly, Toothless retaliated, not giving it a chance to react and clawed out against the other dragon. The blow connected, but the Nightmare was faster than he expected and the attack glanced against its hardened scales. Toothless had had enough, patience gone, he let loose a supersonic blast of flame which made contact and sent the Nightmare across the ring, hitting the stone wall opposite him and falling down in a crumpled heap. It gave one more pitiful attempt to get up, but resigned to its fate and fell back down to the ground.

XXXXXX

Pain had blinded Hiccup since he fell from his seat. He now looked up from the floor to Astrid and a small crowd that had gathered, drawn by the spectacle and concern for a town hero.

"Hiccup, are you alright?" Astrid asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Hiccup answered, sitting up, a fading pain still causing him to wince slightly.

"Hiccup, what- was that?"

"I've got to go do something." Hiccup responded shortly.

XXXXXX

Toothless was largely unhurt, despite the rather large scratches that dotted his body, most of his injuries were superficial. He curled up and went to licking his scratches, the natural salve in dragon's saliva immediately going to work. Toothless would have been content to simply fall asleep on the spot, had Hiccup not entered a moment after this thought entered his mind.

"Toothless, would you like to explain this?" Hiccup said between deep breaths. Lifting his shirt, the ghost of numerous small scratches were slowly fading.


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Note: Two things before this chapter, first, a small apology, as this chapter is shorter than I wanted it to be and is comparatively smaller than most of the other chapters, but I felt it was a rather necessary addition. Second, I'm able to work with the rating I have now, but I would like on the opinion of the readers whether or not I should bump the rating up, I'd like to know what you think.

The pair sat in silence, Hiccup still banking on an answer from Toothless, while the dragon sat idly by, stone faced and unmoving. He didn't betray a single emotion, but Hiccup could tell his dragon was deep in thought, the way his eyes had stopped darting about and the rest of him had followed suit and become completely immobile. For a little while, Hiccup started to worry, Toothless hadn't acted like this at all since the change, it was more his job to act scared and do irrational things, but this was getting to him.

"Wait, no, this shouldn't be happening." Toothless said, jaw still set, eyeballing the now fading wound.

"I'm glad someone else gets to say that for a change, now could you explain what's happening here?" Hiccup asked, shirt still pulled up around his mid section.

"You just don't understand, Hiccup." Toothless replied, voice now steely and much deeper. "I gave up my heart to save you, it should have been just that. But we were closer than most, you can understand what I say, that much was expected."

"What does this mean Toothless?" Hiccup asked, concern filling his voice.

"I did something Hiccup, I did something no dragon had done before, we had given our hearts to other dragons in moments of desperation, but never to a human, I didn't know what would happen." Toothless said, fear seeming to take root in his face. "Everything seemed fine at first, but now, something went terribly wrong."

"What, tell me!" Hiccup said, voice almost reaching a yell. "Tell me Toothless!"

Toothless seemed to sigh and think about the issue for a moment, as if what he could tell Hiccup would break the poor boy. Seeming to settle on the issue, Toothless answered.

"The only time something like this was seen was when one gave up their heart to save the life of a lover."

Toothless visibly sighed after uttering the sentence, waiting on whatever reaction the boy would have to news like that. For the second time, the room sank into total silence, waiting for one to break the silence, or perhaps for Hiccup to faint from such a serious matter. Hiccup didn't take the unmoving statuesque approach to thinking, as Toothless did. Instead, he paced about the ring, muttering to himself, until he finally turned back to face Toothless.

"So me, and you-" Hiccup said, pointing to himself and Toothless respectively.

"Ha! Ha ha ha!" Hiccup was clearly forcing his laugh, each one short and punctual, carrying almost all the air from his lungs with them.

"That's crazy!" Hiccup yelled, tossing his hands into the air, "There's got to be some other explanation."

"I'm only telling you what I know, and unfortunately, I know precious little." Toothless replied, seemingly disappointed in himself.

"Well, the blind leading the blind and all that." Hiccup sighed, resigned, the hysteria quickly fading from his voice.

"We're not completely lost," Toothless retorted. "There's a way we can get to the bottom of all this."

"How?" Hiccup asked, suspicious.

"Legend has it that far South there's an ancient dragon, one who knows everything there is to know about dragons, if there's anyone who'll know what's going on, it'll be him." Toothless answered.

"You're suggesting that we leave now, with winter right around the corner, in pursuit of a legend? Some dragon that might not even exist?" Hiccup said, "I want to know too Toothless, but that's too much of a risk."

Toothless seemed to stiffen up, ears perked up and nostrils flared as all his senses went on high alert. Hiccup took notice of this, he too swiveling about, eyes searching the darkness of dusk.

"What is it boy?"

"Astrid." Toothless answered. "She's just outside the gate."

"You're sure?" Toothless nodded in response.

Astrid!" Hiccup called out, I know you're there!"

XXXXXX

Hiccup had darted up after his incident and dashed off into the all but non-existent daylight, not even bothering to assure he wasn't hurt, simply leaving in pursuit of his own agenda. Suspicions she thought were once quelled, Astrid watched as Hiccup disappeared deeper into the town. She had promised herself that she wouldn't dwell on this anymore, that Hiccup was almost-, no, Hiccup was a man now and had a knack for taking care of his own problems, she needn't interfere. But that doubtful voice in the back of her mind found its way forward once more, whispering doubt and deceit into her brain.

Without the slightest second thought, Astrid followed out after Hiccup. All the while barreling down the stone street, her conscious told her this was wrong, and she was betraying Stoick, herself, and moreover Hiccup himself, but her legs carried her onward, faster and faster lest she lose sight of the boy. Despite how fast she ran, Astrid still hadn't caught sight of Hiccup, and there wasn't any snow on the ground, save a small sheet of frost, but that was nowhere near enough to track by. Despite this, she had a gut feeling of where Hiccup would be going.

Astrid just breached the top of the hill that overlooked the dragon ring when she caught sight of Hiccup heaving the door in by the heavy iron ring. It had just barely parted a gap and Hiccup slipped inside urgently, the door wandering, almost returning flush with its twin. Astrid quickly and quietly ran down to the door, peeking inside once again, she saw exactly what she had expected. Hiccup stood, staring Toothless down, seemingly deep in conversation.

"What does this mean Toothless?"

"What does what mean?" Astrid wondered.

They didn't seem to be motioning to anything in particular, but it seemed to distress Hiccup all the same.

"What, tell me! Tell me Toothless!"

In mere moments, Hiccup had almost reached a hysterical tone, any doubts that Astrid once had were now quashed, Toothless and Hiccup could communicate, and whatever Toothless was telling Hiccup couldn't be good news.

Toothless seemed to say something else, as he growled out a short low string of rumbles and snorts, this time, Hiccup seemed to break. For a few minutes, Hiccup took to pacing around the ring, muttering to himself, several times coming extremely close to Astrid herself, but with sunlight all but gone now and his mind clearly elsewhere, Astrid avoided being found out.

"So me, and you-" Hiccup said, making his way back to the center of the ring where Toothless sat. Suddenly, Hiccup chortled out the rattling laugh of a madman, someone clearly becoming exasperated with their life, had she not been dead set on not being heard, she might have jumped at the sound, such a strange sound coming from Hiccup seemed oddly out of character for the usually upbeat and happy boy.

"That's crazy! There's got to be some other explanation."

With her momentary surprise under control, Astrid returned her attention to eavesdropping, although she would never call it such a name.

"Well, the blind leading the blind and all that."

Hiccup seemed to had regained his usual demeanor, as now the hysterical quality had left his voice, replaced by his usual resigned tone. Astrid thought that all was finished, as Hiccup had seemingly been reassured by whatever it was Toothless had said. She was getting Ready to up and leave when she heard Hiccup speak and Toothless respond.

"You're suggesting that we leave now, with winter right around the corner, in pursuit of a legend? Some dragon that might not even exist?" Hiccup said, "I want to know too Toothless, but that's too much of a risk."

Hiccup was apparently still hung up on something, Toothless as well, if only Astrid could understand what Toothless was saying, that would shed a lot of much needed light on the issue. From what could only be described as a cruel twist of fate from Thor himself, something went terribly awry for Astrid. The heavy door she had peering past suddenly opened to a much larger gap, with a rather noisy creak, drawing Toothless' attention, she dare not move, lest she draw more unwanted attention to herself. Toothless' ears had already perked up and he was peering searchingly about. For one heart pounding moment, she thought she escaped detection, until those deep emerald orbs, the only truly noticeable part of the dragon's body in this light, locked upon her, staring knowingly for what seemed like an eternity.

"What is it boy?"

And now Toothless had told Hiccup.

"You're sure? Astrid! I know you're there! Come out here."

XXXXXX

Sure enough, Astrid pushed the door to the dragon ring open, walking inside, staring at her feet, clearly ashamed, embarrassed, and somehow accusing all at the same time. Hiccup didn't know what to say, he didn't know how much Astrid would be able to find out from what she heard, if anything at all.

"So what did you hear?" Hiccup asked.

"I don't know." Astrid answered honestly, still staring at her feet.

"You're not an idiot Astrid, what do you know?"

Astrid still stared at her feet, not answering for a moment. Hiccup wasn't mad, but he was losing patience with all that was happening to him.

"You and Toothless." Astrid muttered.

Hiccup's heart skipped a beat, in retrospect, Hiccup didn't know why, but it did nonetheless.

"What?" Hiccup asked.

"You and Toothless, I know you can speak to each other."

Hiccup's gut un-knotted and his heart returned to a normal beat.

"That's it?" Hiccup asked, relief apparent in his voice.

Astrid nodded in response.

"Alright, then I'm telling you now, don't interfere, this doesn't concern you, and there's nothing you can do to help, Toothless and I can deal with it on our own."

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Astrid said, taken aback. "How does this not concern me? Am I not your girlfriend? What am I in all this, chopped liver?"

"There's a lot I'm dealing with right now, the last thing I want is for you to get roped into this." Hiccup's voice took a much more serious tone, Astrid taking to heart what he had to say. "Listen to me, there's nothing you can do, let me take care of this."

"Alright." Astrid sighed.

XXXXXX

Hiccup was just about fed up with what was happening to him, granted, the alternative was being dead, and that was a rather undesirable option. This day in particular though, had sent him over the edge. What was supposed to be a relaxing evening spent with Astrid had turned into another bout of dealing with his rather peculiar "condition." And then then Astrid had to find out, granted, she actually knew very little, but she was on to him, the last thing he needed was for word getting out. At this point, he was sure he would pass out the moment he hit his bed. Hiccup plopped down, reaching over and affectionately petting Toothless on the head before rolling over and letting sleep take hold.

XXXXXX

"No no no! Toothless wait don-!" Hiccup had only seconds to move out of the way before the black dragon came crashing down, sending a billowing waves to all edges of the small body of water.

The grotto was surprisingly warm this time of year, much more so than Hiccup expected when he and Toothless landed there after one of their many excursions into the skies. Hiccup tried to make it something of a ritual to come here after every time they went flying, the pleasant memories and isolation helped to ease both of them from the stress they were under. This day in particular was out of the ordinary, whether by some joke of the gods, or the wind had carried warm air from places South, the past week, and this day were especially warm. Rather than the cool breeze that characterized Autumn in Berk, they experienced the heavy damp of Spring, settling over the town with it and bringing many a sweaty brow. So as Hiccup and Toothless settled in the grotto, damp collecting on Hiccup's shirt, the cool, crystal clear water looked so tempting.

As quickly as he could, Hiccup undressed, tossing his vest aside, shirt following shortly after, and boots haphazardly cast next to them, Hiccup finally worked his way down to his olive green trousers. This was the tricky part, clothes were something of a commodity in Berk, and having an elaborate garment was usually a sign of status. Stoick's large fur cape signified his power as the chief, and Hiccup's own vest, cut from the very same cape, was a sign of Hiccup's lineage, each of these being handmade along with every other article of clothing. Wary of the labor gone into such things, Hiccup had to remove his trousers with the utmost care, working the material over his prosthetic leg in a way so as not to catch it on a loose piece of metal and gouge the fabric. But this had become par for the course with Hiccup, and he had done it many times since he got his new leg, becoming just another part of the routine in his life. Sitting naked as the day he was born, he moved onto the leg itself, Hiccup unwrapped the leather strips that fastened it to what was left of his ankle, wrapping the strips around the metal and placing it gingerly inside his vest.

Standing shakily, Hiccup made it up onto his one good leg, Toothless providing support when he started to hobble over to the water's edge.

"Thanks boy." Hiccup said, scratching the sweet spot behind the dragon's neck, coaxing a satisfied purr out of him.

With a few more feeble hops, Hiccup leaped headfirst into the water, the cool liquid soothing his thighs that had become worn from gripping the saddle for so long. Hiccup loved to swim, it was reminiscent of the liberating feeling that flying brought to him, albeit without needing a dragon. But swimming still fell short of flying because nothing could beat the feeling of the wind in his hair as he and Toothless defied the laws of common ideal. It was around the time that his chest started to burn that Hiccup thought it might be a good idea to surface, shooting upwards, he broke the rippling roof of water and began gulping in mouthfuls of air. Brushing his hair out of his face, Hiccup looked to shore, spotting Toothless low to the ground, muscled body tensing, a deviant look upon his face. Hiccup knew what he was going to do and quickly tried to persuade him from doing so. Before he could open his mouth to speak, Toothless had already took off like a stone from a sling, tearing up grass and dirt as he went.

"No no no! Toothless wait don-!" But the dragon was already in the air, catching hang time over the Hiccup, who moved with all the speed he could, unless he wanted to be crushed.

Toothless landed where Hiccup had stood not moments before, water being sent in every direction from his landing. Hiccup awkwardly standing up in the chest high water, recovering from his leap to safety, coughing up liberal amounts of water he had swallowed in the process.

"Stupid dragon." Hiccup muttered between mouthfuls of water, Toothless laughing heartily all the while.

Hiccup swam as far as he could to shore, crawling when the water could no longer support him. Suddenly, he was lifted from his kneeling position and deposited on the grassy shore, without even a chance for reaction.

"Whoa, um uh, thanks Toothless, but you really didn't need to." Hiccup said dismissively, rolling over and sitting up as he picked stray blades of grass off his stomach. Toothless merely sat by, staring at him, stock still and unspeaking.

"Toothless?" Hiccup asked, as Toothless began to approach him. Worry suddenly settled on Hiccup as the reality of what was happening dawned on him. Even Toothless can't escape his instincts, and Autumn was when most dragons sought a mate.

"No, Toothless, stop, stop, don't!" Hiccup plead, all the while backing away as fast as he could, which unfortunately without his prosthetic was painfully slow. Toothless was all but upon him now and Hiccup could see the look of hunger in his eyes, the lost inhibitions and the primal beast.

"TOOTHLESS!" It seemed that Hiccup's words rang true with Toothless, for he had stopped his advance, and the beast was shaken from him, the considerate and caring eyes had returned to him. Hiccup's chest heaved, panic fading from him, but as he settled, a thought sparked in his mind. Toothless had been there for him as no other had, every step of the way, if Hiccup so much as stumbled, Toothless would keep him from falling. They had conquered unbeatable odds as a team, changed an entire people's ideas, and Toothless had even given up his own heart to save his life.

"Do I, do I really mean that much to you?" Toothless didn't speak, staring at Hiccup, finally giving a resolute nod to answer him. "It's okay then."

Hiccup reached up, grasping Toothless' nose, planting a kiss on the tip of his snout, Toothless gingerly puling the boy into an intimate embrace before-

XXXXXX

"GAAAAAAAAAAH!" Hiccup screamed out, sitting bolt upright, Toothless nearly hit the ceiling and the combined sound of a screaming boy and startled dragon woke Stoick, who was quickly making his way up the stairs to investigate.

"Hiccup, what's going on, what's wrong?" He said groggily, peering into the darkness of early morning.

"It's nothing Dad, it was just a dream." Hiccup replied.

"Oh." Stoick said, panic eased. "I'll be out of here then."

The door had barely closed before Hiccup turned to Toothless.

"Today, that old dragon you spoke of."

"What about him?" Toothless asked, curious.

"We're going to see him."


	6. Chapter 6

Author's Note: ALRIGHT, NOW BEFORE ANYONE SAYS I DIDN'T WARN THEM! INTERSPECIES SEXUAL RELATIONS BETWEEN A BOY AND A DRAGON IN THIS CHAPTER! Now that we have that out of the way, enjoy.

Astrid didn't consider herself a morning person. Maybe it was the fact that she was a growing young woman, held and esteemed position within the village of Berk, or a myriad of other reasons, Astrid never found herself relishing the morning after a long day. When she awoke on this day however, she snapped up with ears at attention, rather than the usual lethargy that accompanied a morning. She could hear something outside, a dull buzzing racket that refused to quit and only grew louder with every passing minute. Throwing her blanket off and getting dressed quickly, Astrid walked out the door to see what all the commotion was. As she stepped into the morning sunlight, and was met face first with what appeared to be entire population of Berk running down the street.

Astrid warily stepped into the crowd, trying to get the attention of one of the townspeople in order to find out what was happening. Everyone seemed to be intent to get to whatever was further into town, for anyone she tried to stop merely brushed her off and continued on their way. Finally, she grabbed onto the shoulder of a portly older Viking man, whose gray beard quivered as Astrid grasped hold of him.

"What's all this about?" Astrid asked, motioning to the massive crowd.

"It's Hiccup!" The man replied.

"Of course it is." Astrid mumbled exasperatedly to herself. In the few moments she took her eyes off him, the old Viking had already dashed back into the crowd, with nary a backward glance nor goodbye.

"Wait!" Astrid called out. "What did he do?"

"That's what we're going to find out!" The man called over his shoulder before finally disappearing from sight.

Settling upon going with the rest of the crowd, Astrid muscled her way into the crowd, pushing past waves of people on her way to the front of the pack. The going was slow, for the residents of Berk were shoulder to shoulder in the streets, Astrid doing all she could to make her way ahead faster than the rest.

"Excuse me, coming through." Astrid said as she wormed her way through the wall of flesh, "Out of my way!"

Astrid finally made it out into the open, looking upon the spectacle everyone had been so eager to see. Hiccup sat atop Toothless, perched upon a distant ridge, bundled in heavy clothing and a thick pack strapped behind him on the leather saddle, Stoick standing beside him, apparently deep in conversation. Astrid dashed down to them, intent to find out what exactly was happening here.

"-can't let you do this, not with Winter so close now, you'll freeze to death before you make it past the seventh isle!"

"But I have to Dad, this is important!" Hiccup plead.

"I understand Hiccup, but I won't let you throw your life away for something that can wait!"

"It can't wait, we'll make the trip and be back before the start of the season."

Astrid was now close enough for the two to take notice of her, Hiccup looked to her with hardened and determined eyes, Stoick obviously desperate in the matter.

"Astrid, would you talk some sense into him?" Stoick asked, pinching the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger.

"Why, what's he doing now?" Astrid replied.

"Hiccup wants to make a trip past the southern waste into the next country." Stoick explained.

"For what?"

"He won't say." Stoick said exasperatedly. "I told him the least he could do is explain to me what he wants to find there, but he won't even do that. You talk to him, he won't listen to reason from me."

"Don't try to stop me Astrid." Hiccup said, giving his saddle another once over, checking the various mechanisms that ran in conjunction.

"Hiccup, this is crazy, I know I've said that to you before, but you have to understand, this is your life!" Astrid said, trying desperately to strike a chord with Hiccup in some way.

"You don't get what I'm going through, do you Astrid?" Hiccup said, staring accusingly at Astrid. "This is bigger than me, both of us, I need to get to the bottom of this, if I don't-"

Hiccup trailed off for a moment, looking down at the grass beneath him, deep in thought.

"I don't know what." Hiccup finished punctually.

"Hiccup, you're not making any sense, you're talking about things you won't explain, only you know about, and refuse help from anyone, and on top of that you're acting strange. You haven't been yourself since- I don't know when, and I'll tell you why! It's because of him!" Astrid cried, pointing an accusing finger at Toothless.

"He did something to you, didn't he?" Astrid said, now on the verge of tears, "And you won't tell anyone because you're protecting him!"

Hiccup looked away, not even bothering to acknowledge Astrid, edging Toothless a few steps closer to the cliff side while the dragon spread his wings.

"Hiccup!" Astrid yelled, tears now starting to run down her face "If you leave now- I won't be waiting for you when you come back, do you hear me?"

"If that's the way it has to be." Hiccup mumbled, more to himself than Astrid. "Sorry."

With that last word, Hiccup kicked Toothless forward, diving off the cliff and gaining height as they drifted off toward the horizon in the early morning sun, Stoick left on the cliff in awe, Astrid broken down to tears.

XXXXXX

"Y'know you didn't have to do that." Toothless said, "We could have waited until Spring, and you didn't have to be so hard on Astrid."

"No boy, I have to find out about this, if I might go crazy if I don't get to the bottom of this."

"Don't you think that's exaggerating a little bit?" Toothless asked.

Hiccup thought back to the night before, the dream he had, the shame, the embarrassment, the pleasure, and the various mix of confused feelings that came with it. It wasn't that bad, he thought, but that was what scared him about it. The fact that all throughout the dream, he didn't feel completely uncomfortable like he had thought, that was what scared him.

"No." Hiccup said as plainly and blatantly as possible.

XXXXXX

If nothing else, Hiccup should have listened to his father, and Toothless, and probably Astrid as well, because not two days into their trip, snow began to fall in torrents around them, buffeting Toothless as they flew. Hiccup was intent to make it past the southern waste before any serious storms hit and forced them to take shelter. If that happened, death was a very real possibility, as hunting the local isles would be nearly impossible in this weather and he didn't bring enough supplies to wait until Spring to continue the trip. No, they would be forced to press on until it was absolutely necessary to do otherwise.

Unfortunately, such a situation was likely fast approaching. Winds picked up to dangerous speeds, Toothless having a hard time compensating for the powerful gusts. Hiccup was doing all he could to keep them on track, but with the wind knocking them off course at every turn and Toothless working against him all the while, Hiccup couldn't help but feel they were losing their bearing, and that would set them back even further than simply stopping and waiting out the storm.

"Toothless!" Hiccup yelled over the howling wind, "We've got to set down before we get too turned around."

Toothless responded by dropping into a steep dive, headed for one of the small islands beneath them, no doubt intent on finding one of the many mountain caves that seem to characterize the small pieces of land that dot the sea around them. Sure enough, a small black opening in a rock face in front of them slowly showed through the snowstorm, Toothless gentling gliding toward it, trying not to make any sudden movement, lest he be dashed against the rocks.

"Easy boy, we're going to take this slow." Hiccup said, perching himself further in the stirrups of his saddle.

Toothless all but stopped flapping his wings, now only the strong winds beneath them providing lift for the pair. But the gusty Winter winds were enough, and without much trouble, they managed to safely place themselves inside the mountain cave.

"Y'know, now that I think about it, this might not have been the brightest idea," Hiccup managed to get out through chattering teeth.

"Having regrets?" Toothless asked smugly.

"Don't even try, I still want to find out about what's happening, but I'm just saying this- MIGHT not have been too well thought out." Hiccup admitted, "I mean, we're going after a myth, a myth! Something that might not even exist! And I go and decide to do it at the worst time, and it costs me a girlfriend."

Hiccup dropped down onto the stone in the cave, arms wrapped around his shoulders despite the thick clothing he wore, his thin frame shaking all the while.

"I can't help but wonder, why are you so intent to find out about all this?" Toothless asked, sitting down opposite Hiccup.

"Hm?" Hiccup replied through hands he was just trying to warm.

"You're a smart boy Hiccup, you know the risks involved with a trip like this. You've proven you're not above patience." Toothless said, a questioning tone in his voice. "And you cast Astrid off, as if she were nothing, I thought she meant a lot to you."

Hiccup looked away, not wanting to meet Toothless' gaze, Hiccup knew why he did what he did, but telling Toothless would mean disaster. Or would it? Toothless was always understanding, very mature in handling most things Hiccup sent his way, if a little immature in the jokes he made later about it. Then again, Hiccup wasn't sure in these feelings himself, was a once off dream enough to go this far? Hiccup put it off, still unsure in the matter.

"I just don't want to talk about it right now." Hiccup said, curling up tighter and laying down on the stone.

"Hiccup, what's wrong with you?" Toothless said, getting up and approaching Hiccup.

"I told you, I just don't want to talk about it right now." Hiccup said with increasing impatience.

"Hiccup, this isn't like you." Toothless said, nudging Hiccup with his nose. "Now tell me what's wrong!"

"Dammit Toothless, I said I don't want to talk about it!" Hiccup cried, getting up and sending a backhand flying at Toothless. The blow connected, barely registering with the dragon, and likely leaving Hiccup's hand more sore than Toothless' nose. But nonetheless, Toothless sat on his haunches, feet away from Hiccup, taken aback at the uncharacteristically violent action Hiccup had done.

"Hiccup." Toothless whispered, watching his boy's huffing form, hand still in mid-air, "This isn't you."

"You know, I've been getting that a lot and I'm getting sick and tired of it!" Hiccup said, voice rising in volume with every word, "This is a little distressing, I mean, first I have a brush with death, then I find out that the only thing keeping me alive is a part from my dragon! But I can't just get off with just that, no, there's always a catch! Now I'm somehow connected with you, and now I'm having these weird feelings- I mean, FORGIVE ME, IF I HAVEN'T QUITE BEEN MYSELF LATELY!"

As Hiccup finished his voice was a pitched roar, eyes bloodshot and streaming with tears, voice shaking with every word he uttered.

"I hate this." Hiccup muttered, on his hands and knees. "I don't have a clue what's going on, I don't know what to make heads or tails of anymore. This is just so confusing, it's all too much. I don't know what to do anymore, I just wanted to get away."

Toothless moved closer to him, Hiccup not trying to repel him this time.

"I just can't take it anymore." Hiccup murmured, all the while Toothless moving a little bit closer to him, until he could almost feel Hiccup's breath on his nose.

"Toothless." Hiccup said.

"Yes?"

"Do you love me?" Hiccup asked, tear streaked face looking up at the dragon.

"What?" Toothless said, taken aback.

"Do you love me?" Hiccup repeated.

It was then Toothless realized the strange things about Hiccup recently, what his actions were attributed to. His timid stature, neglect of others outside of Toothless, his overall clumsiness, more so than usual. It all made sense to him now, Hiccup was enthralled, positively infatuated with Toothless. Toothless had even felt the underlying feelings conveyed by their rather unique connection, he chose to ignore it, but the evidence was there.

"Of course." Toothless replied softly, letting Hiccup take hold of his head, resting his own against Toothless', eyes closed.

"Show me." Hiccup said.

"Wait, you want me to-"

"Yes." Hiccup interrupted.

"I'm not sure you quite realize what this means." Toothless replied, voice full of concern.

"I don't care, we've come this far, this much has happened, you're my last bastion, boy." Hiccup said.

"There's no coming back from this." Toothless warned.

"I understand." Hiccup assured.

Without a moment's hesitation, Toothless had all but pinned Hiccup, straddling the boy, completely at the mercy of the dragon above him. Hiccup's mind flashed back to his dream, not unlike now, Toothless had straddled him between those powerful legs, a wet dragon appendage pushing roughly against his backside. But this was better on so many levels. This was vivid, the atmosphere in the cave was thick, as if it had weight to it, crushing even, Toothless' breath heavy on his face, warming him throughout his entire body.

For a while, the two merely stared, Toothless wary of how to treat the boy, Hiccup unsure of how to proceed. But Hiccup wasn't a fool, he'd heard around Berk of many sexual conquests, Gobber more than liberal with his tongue around the forge. So Hiccup pushed onward, sliding his trousers off in a heat. There was a momentary struggle of undoing the rope belt that held Hiccup's trousers up, and then getting them around his boot, Toothless simply opting to grasp them with an ebony claw and ungracefully pull them down, one sleeve noisily ripping as they caught on Hiccup's prosthetic leg. Once off, the trousers were cast to the side without even a second thought.

"Ahhhhhhaha!" Hiccup squealed out as cold stone touched his bared nether regions, back immediately arching in response, forcing most of his body against Toothless'.

"Cold?" Toothless asked in amusement.

"That's not funny." Hiccup pouted. "But yes."

"Come here." Toothless said, grasping Hiccup by his tender bare skin. Grasping him close, Toothless rolled over, setting Hiccup on his stomach, leathery wings blocking the blowing wind outside.

"Better?" Toothless asked.

"Much." Hiccup replied, wrapping his arms around Toothless as far as he could.

"There's still a chance to go back." Toothless said.

"No." Hiccup answered shaking his head. "I'm sure about this."

"Then just bear with me, this may get a little... uncomfortable.' Toothless consoled.

Hiccup nodded, setting his jaw and biting his lip. Toothless hiked his hips up while sliding Hiccup down for the boy to connect with his rather impressive dragonhood. Hiccup looked behind him, sizing up the appendage. For a moment, Hiccup's heart beat fast, suddenly thinking twice about this undertaking. Toothless took notice of the rapid pulse, holding Hiccup tighter to his body in comfort, doing all he could to calm the boy.

Hiccup's bottom finally met the dragon appendage, Hiccup gasping at the sudden wetness pressing against him. Once more, Hiccup's heart picked up its pace, this time in excitement and anticipation rather than fear. Toothless held back, he dare not simply press into the boy all at once, that would tear him apart, and Toothless wanted him to enjoy this. With patience, Toothless kept prodding at Hiccup's hole, slowly getting the boy to relax and loosen up.

Toothless bent his neck forward to look down at Hiccup, the poor boy's fingers and toes curled into tight little balls, eyes screwed shut and beginning of tears forming at the corner's of his eyes. Toothless poked at Hiccup's face, his eyes once closed now parting slightly wider. Hiccup looked up at Toothless, Toothless responding by plating a few wet dragon kisses on Hiccup's face, coaxing a smile from the boy.

Toothless went a little bit further, pressing just the tip of his dragonhood into Hiccup, Hiccup gasping at the sudden pressure.

"Are you alright?" Toothless asked with concern.

Hiccup nodded in response, biting his lip. Toothless was still worried, but pressed on in spite of it. Hiccup was about halfway down when his eyes flew open and he gave an almighty cry, positively yelling, in what Toothless could only describe as pain and pure ecstasy in union, fingers digging into Toothless' scales, toes curling all the while. Toothless knew that was the spot he would be aiming for, that sensitive little bulb deep within the boy. Working out, and then back in, Toothless prepared the boy for what would undoubtedly be (despite his best intentions) a rather punishing experience.

Toothless could feel himself working deeper and deeper in as Hiccup relaxed, occasionally coaxing a pleasured moan from him as he rubbed past that pleasure point. Up until this point, Toothless had been completely focused on Hiccup, but as the boy spread and sank further onto his appendage, engulfing him, he too was starting to feel his body wracked with pleasure. He couldn't help but wonder if in the midst of this act, he would be able to retain control of himself.

As Hiccup's rear finally met the base of Toothless' organ, he began to pick up a steady rhythm. Each thrust ravaging the dragon's body, and in turn earning the pleasurable moan or squeal from Hiccup. Each movement making Toothless' skin crawl from the feelings he received. Hiccup's own neglected member was slick with fluid, beginning to pool on Toothless' stomach. The dragon was positively on edge, thrusts becoming erratic as he slowly lost his mind to pleasure. Sitting forward on his haunches, Toothless now moved Hiccup up and down on his dragonhood, instead of moving himself, each time pushing the boy to breaking point.

At this point, Hiccup almost screamed, Toothless' fast moving dragon member struck that point inside him on target almost every time, with absolutely nerve-wracking force. He knew Toothless was losing control, for each push was sloppy and his body shook. In a moment of instinct, Toothless clamped his jaws down upon Hiccup's shoulder drawing crimson as he left a wide bite pattern, simultaneously reaching climax and emptying his dragon seed deep within the boy. Hiccup screamed as Toothless bit down upon him, the dragon's climax going unbeknownst to the boy as he himself came onto Toothless' front.

Tired and not wishing to speak, Toothless slumped back against the cave wall, member spent and slick with dragon seed, slipped from Hiccup, the boy himself falling asleep almost the moment Toothless became level.


	7. Chapter 7

"Hiccup." A voice said softly, as if from a distance.

The boy groaned and mumbled in lethargy, pushing back into a nearby heat source, a creeping chill working its way into his body. He mumbled something incoherent before settling back down. A few moments passed before the voice spoke again.

"Hiccup." It said, with a little more urgency, this time nudging his still unresponsive body.

But once more the Viking boy merely disregarded the voice in favor of attempting to let sleep overtake him once more. For a while it seemed he had got his wish, as the voice made no more attempts to rouse him from his slumber, his mind once more drifting off into unconsciousness. However, this this was all shattered moments later.

"WAKE UP YOU LAZY CHILD!" Toothless cried, at a positively earsplitting volume.

"Almighty Thor of Asgard!" Hiccup shouted instinctively, shooting upright, any sentiments of returning to sleep shattered.

"Oh good, you're awake." The dragon said, as if he wasn't the one who had just nearly burst his boy's eardrums.

"Now what did you go and do- AHHHHH!" Hiccup snapped, before yelling out in pain as he stood up.

"Hiccup!" Toothless said in concern, catching the boy as legs collapsed from beneath him, unable to support his weight as pain overcame him. "Don't, um, try to stand right now. Or move at all for that matter."

"I guess things were a little rougher last night than I remember." Hiccup joked, still clutching his bottom in pain. The dragon was suddenly regretting waking him, among a myriad of other things. Toothless knew he might have qualms about his actions, but not so suddenly as all this.

Hiccup could see the guilt on Toothless' face, smiling through the rather cutting pain he felt, Hiccup gave the dragon a quick hug, consoling him as best he could.

"Don't worry boy, I'm fine, this is nothing."

"Oh really?" Toothless asked skeptically, eyes now half-lidded in amusement, "Why not stand up then?"

"I'm comfortable here." Hiccup replied shortly.

The dragon merely shook his head in exasperation, a faint smile creeping onto his gums.

XXXXXX

It occurred to Hiccup that with his particular "ailment" flying was going to be harder than usual. The hardened leather saddle that was usually a comfortable ride, now incessantly shot waves of pain up his spine. In addition to the now much more unpleasant ride, maneuvering was a shoddy affair. Not to mention most of his time in the saddle was a rather dangerous affair due to his lack of grip in his left arm. Nonetheless, the pair pushed on in spite of this, determined to reach their destination, the fair, yet cold, weather freshening their spirit.

"Y'know, I can't help but wonder, why did you bite my shoulder last night? Was that really necessary?" Hiccup asked.

"It's something instinctual to all dragons, it's how we mark our mates, I can't fight it any more than you can fight breathing." Toothless answered.

"Mark your mates?" Hiccup questioned.

"Didn't you know? Dragons mate for life." Toothless said, as if this were a trivial fact in the grand scheme of things.

"Oh. That would have been nice to know sooner." Hiccup muttered.

XXXXXX

"Why?" Astrid thought. That was about the only thing that occupied her thoughts as of late. Hiccup was calm, caring, compassionate, maybe a little rash at times, but it was always for the greater good, no? Always for those he cared about, so why he would suddenly leave on a mysterious quest for parts unknown was beyond her.

Toothless. He was the only thing Astrid could think of to explain it all, and it made sense too. Especially from what had transpired, something was amiss, the young Viking girl had a knack for taking notice of these sorts of things. But the strange thing was, Toothless had always been good for Hiccup, bolstering the boy's courage, giving him confidence where he had had none before, and cemented a permanent place as an integral part of Berk, rather than a mere hanger-on with the chief as his father. No, it was hard for Astrid to point her accusing finger at the Night Fury, as suspicious as she was she never really wanted to believe what her own mind told here. But there was really nowhere else to place the blame at this point. During that battle with the other Viking tribe, Toothless did something, what exactly she wasn't sure, but it changed Hiccup, slowly bent him from the nervous and klutzy boy she knew, to the cold and secretive one who now bore the name "Hiccup Horrendous Haddock."

"Astrid, do you have a moment?"

Astrid's heart jumped as the voice penetrated her ears, she had been so deep in thought that she hadn't even realized someone was speaking to her.

"Oh, Fjord, you scared me half to death." Astrid said, turning around to greet the man.

"Ohhh, that's bad news." He said seriously, crossing his arms and lowering his head, "When the likes of me can sneak up on the greatest warrior woman this little village has ever known... Maybe I'm more sprightly in my old age than I thought!"

Fjord let out a bellowing laugh, Astrid nervously smiling while he carried on, slapping his knee all the while. The old man was known to laugh at the worst times, and during completely inappropriate occasions, but the easygoing mood he held was contagious, and in light of recent events, raised Astrid's mood immensely. Before she knew it, she was chuckling along with the man as well, exchanging chummy shoves and arm clasps.

"So." Astrid said, composing herself, "You wanted a word with me?"

"Yes, yes I did." Fjord replied, his own face becoming much more serious.

"Well..." Astrid pushed, "About what?"

"That's the thing," Fjord said, looking about, as if they were being watched from on high, or there was an eavesdropper hidden in the cracks of the paving slabs. Taking one last look around, Fjord leaned in close to Astrid, his eyes darting side to side all the while. "We can't talk about it here, too open, someone might get the wrong idea. Meet me in the forge tonight, not long after nightfall."

Curiosity piqued, Astrid nodded, agreeing to the meeting, exchanging a tentative farewell wave as Fjord lumbered away.

XXXXXX

She had been waiting most of the day for this, Astrid thought she would wait until torches around the village were lit, then go off to meet Fjord for whatever it was he wanted to talk about. It didn't even occur to Astrid that she might have been getting into shady dealings, going about Berk in the dark, meeting in empty buildings, for Thor only knows what. But it was a distraction, that's what most things were to her these days, a distraction. Anything to get her mind off Hiccup.

"Ugh." She sighed inwardly.

There she was, thinking about Hiccup again. At this point, it was something of a game to Astrid: go as long as possible without thinking about Hiccup. Well, if a a game it was, she just lost it. Trudging up to the forge, footprints leaving small indents in the light snow that had settled over all of Berk, the Viking girl set herself to the current task, pushing everything else out of her mind. Reaching up, she was about to knock on the two-piece door, without warning, the entire thing opened all at once, and she was rushed inside by urgent hands.

"Ugh," Astrid groaned, wiping some of the worse heavier grime off her arms, left by the busy Vikings. But she was here for business, straightening up and taking what she thought was a professional tone, asked, "Now what's this all about?"

Fjord stood up from his spot at a makeshift table situated in the forge, the two other Viking men who had hustled her inside sitting down at it with one more man who had apparently been speaking with Fjord before she came in. It seemed that Astrid's intrusion wasn't as welcomed as Fjord would have had her believe. The three others carried on their conversation in hushed tones, occasionally glancing up at her and quickly averting their gaze once they realized she had taken notice.

"Astrid!" Fjord bellowed, embracing Astrid in his beefy arms, loud tone setting a great contrast to the three others' quiet muttering. "Good to see you made it!"

"Yes- it's, good to see you- too." Astrid gasped, through the rib shattering strength of the affectionate show. Finally released, as Fjord must have realized she was going blue in the face, Astrid once more asked, in a more pressing and urgent tone, "Now what's this all about?"

"Oh, of course." Fjord said, composing himself. "Well, where to begin?"

Astrid couldn't help but feel that he was dodging the issue, then again, the average Viking wasn't exactly brilliant, so it could be well within the realm of possibility that he simply didn't know how to say it, the puzzled and airy look on Fjord's face giving more evidence that idea. But no, Astrid couldn't help but feel that it was a sensitive matter, something Astrid wouldn't like, and he was searching for a way to make it look better to her. The true seriousness of the situation dawned on Astrid, she has stumbled into something she should have left alone, something dangerous even. If she left now, she might be able to was her hands of the matter, but curiosity stayed her feet, as Fjord finally opened his mouth to continue.

"There's something strange, that's been going around the village." Fjord started. "Something about the dragons, they've been acting out of the ordinary- unruly even! They've been getting violent, we had to pin one of the Nadders down just the other day, and it's happening more and more."

Astrid knew where this was going, and she didn't like it.

"The dragons are wild beasts, sure, their queen is gone now, but what's that to them?" Fjord went on. "It just means they can be as unruly as ever, tricks and sorcery will only pull the wool over their eyes for so long, we've got to strike while we still can, we've got to drive them out."

Astrid couldn't stand for this now.

"Fjord, don't be and idiot!" Astrid said firmly, "With Hiccup away right now, it makes sense they'd be acting a little differently. He was the only Viking to ever try to live alongside dragons, rather than meet everything they do with violence. All we have to do is wait for him to get back and things will return to normal."

Settling back, Astrid thought this was over, a potentially disastrous situation defused, Fjord stood there, merely looking down upon her, dumbstruck and speechless at what she had said, air hanging thick overhead.

"But you said it yourself lassy." One of the men at the table said, after what seemed like an hour. "There's something off with that boy, and his dragon, you said it, from your own lips! The dragon did something to the boy, bewitched him probably, and that's probably what's been happening from the start. Night Fury reckons himself king of the dragons, and with the Red Death out of the way, he can finally take that title and wipe us out- the last threat from the inside!"

Mutters of agreement and a well thought out assessment were passed around, the man was patted on the shoulder, and meaningful nods were exchanged. That sinking feeling once more settled onto Astrid, now realizing she had tied her own noose. In that moment of weakness, when she looked for anyone to put the blame on, turning it to the innocent Toothless, that was now being used for one of the most foolish acts in Viking history.

"We're going to strike first." Fjord said, taking a step toward Astrid, "We won't give them the chance to."

Panic set it on the young Viking girl, turning on her heel, she threw the door open and dashed outside before she could hear anymore.

XXXXXX

"There it is!" Toothless called back to Hiccup.

Beneath the two, a sprawling city in ruins spread away in every direction. Cobbled streets lay in waste, grass and other plants growing between the brickwork. Various statues were missing limbs, a hand here, an arm, or sometimes an entire torso, memorials of proud people moved on. Crumbling archways stood over every opening and entryway, domed ceilings cracking and collapsing under theirs' and the weight of time. Hiccup merely sat in awe of it for a while, he had only seen small villages in all his life, but this city positively dwarfed Berk, given time he would have to sketch this majestic scene, but they were on a mission now, one of the utmost importance.

"So, this old dragon you mentioned, where exactly would we start looking for him?" Hiccup asked.

But before Hiccup could get an answer, a massive column of flame shot up from deep in the ruined city. Reacting quickly, Toothless dodged out of the way, Hiccup adjusting for the dive in the Toothless' tailfin. Just as quickly as they dodged, another blast of fire caused them to change course once more, bringing them ever closer to the city below. A third blast finally sealed their fate, taking advantage of a wall that was precariously standing in their way, the ball of flame dashed ahead of them, connected with the stone, shattering it to pieces, sending shrapnel in every direction. A larger piece caught Toothless in the wing, sending both tumbling down, the dragon doing all he could to protect Hiccup from the impact.

Toothless, spread his back against the rubble, pulling Hiccup, saddle and all into a protective hold, as the ground came up to meet them, the Night Fury braced himself as they skidded against stone, landing in the bulk of the brick where the wall used to stand. Quickly recovering, the dragon released Hiccup, putting himself in front of the boy as he wheeled around, looking for the danger.

Rounding the corner, a huge dragon stood. Far larger than Toothless, close to the size of the average Berk home. Sharp spikes covered his backbone, cresting his head, and culminating in a pair of horns on the back of his skull. It walked, casting its gaze about, sniffing the air, until with one sweep it caught sight of Toothless. In a few short bounds, it stood towering above the Night Fury, looking down upon the intruder of its territory. Toothless backed away from it as far as he could, still wary of protecting Hiccup, while doing all he could to appear as threatening as possible.

The other dragon leered down at Toothless in what could only be described as a mixture of disdain and amusement. Curling its neck back, it prepared to strike the opposing Night Fury down in a blaze of fire, but as it did so, it seemed to catch sight of something. Reaching out with a clawed limb, it pushed Toothless aside with a casual shove, its powerful gaze now upon Hiccup. Hiccup merely stared up, defenseless at what would be his inevitable death. A deep rumbling came from within the dragon, and Hiccup clamped his eyes shut, bracing himself for a fiery demise. But the fire never came, instead, he heard what sounded like a giant clearing its throat, before all too human laughter met his ears. Slowly opening his eyes, he saw the dragon had sat back, resting its head on a hand, laughing all the while.

"Well why didn't you say so?" It said in a voice with noticeable inflection.

XXXXXX

"I-uh-" Hiccup stammered, confused at the sudden change of events. "You're, not going to kill us?"

"Well of course not." The dragon replied.

"So, what was all that about?" Hiccup asked suspiciously, motioning to the sky and the destruction around them. 

"Ah yes, well, you see, I've been here for a very long time, and I've found that people come for two reasons, either to glean what they can from these ruins, or to seek my knowledge. And seeing as a human and a dragon are here together, I can only imagine you are here for my knowledge." He explained, before punctuating in an almost embarrassed tone, "And sorry about that."

"So you are the one we're looking for!" Hiccup said excitedly.

"Well of course." The dragon scoffed in a matter-of-factly way, "But this is no place to talk, let us go inside, where it's more comfortable."

Motioning to follow, the dragon led them deeper into the city, Hiccup struggling to keep up with his vast strides. Leading them to a pair of large oaken doors, it pushed through, the aged hinges creaking under the weight. Within, a vast hall spread out before them, a colorful mural covering the walls. The old dragon leading the way casually spat small balls of flame out to light a few torches that sat in brackets mounted to the stone. With the light now glimmering over the walls, Hiccup could see what the mural depicted. Dragons and humans, first fighting, at peace, and then living together in harmony.

"What happened here?" Hiccup asked.

"Mistakes were made." The old dragon replied grimly.

Taking the answer for what it was, Hiccup walked the rest of the journey in silence. The trio finally made it down a flight of steps into what could only be described as a dragon's study. It bore all the makings of a study, scrolls, books, a desk and various assortments of inks, quills and viewing platforms. But everything was distinctly dragon sized. Settling down at a spot on the floor, the dragon looked up at Hiccup and Toothless.

"So, what do you want to know?" It asked brightly.

Now that he was here, and an answer at his fingertips, Hiccup finally realized he wasn't quite sure what to ask.

"How can I understand you?" Hiccup asked, on a whim.

"I'm speaking in the human tongue." He replied simply.

"You taught yourself?" Hiccup pressed.

"Of course, I had to do something with my time."

Still unsure of what to ask, Hiccup tried to keep it basic.

"Do you have a name?"

"A name?" The dragon replied, as if taken aback. "Usually when people go out of their way to see me, it's not to make small talk. No matter, no matter. Draco, I was called."

Finally, Hiccup had a question in mind, or rather, was done skirting the issue, he DID come here for a reason after all. Undoing the top part of his tunic, Hiccup pulled the garment a little way down, exposing the pink scar over the heart given to him by his dragon. Draco looked on, a much more serious look taking root on his face.

"You realize that was never meant to be used in such a way." Draco said, turning to Toothless now. "This has been done only a few times, and it was never seen to its fullest extent in any of those cases."

Toothless cowered back at the sternness of the verbal onslaught.

"Wait, what do you mean, dragons have given their hearts to humans in the past?" Hiccup asked, confused.

"Yes." Draco sighed out, "But only the first time it was done did either survive. Those two shared a special bond, like I'd never seen in any others, a human and a dragon. But humans are not as hardy as we, her time came to pass, in a desperate act, he gave his heart to prolong their time together, something that had only been seen in dragons before. But greedy men saw advantage in this, they forced, tricked, and connived dragons into giving their hearts to extend their own lives. None survived longer than a day."

Hiccup's stomach tightened as he heard the tale.

"None of them survived, because there was no deeper bond between them." Draco finished, before looking to Hiccup. "I'm curious, how long have you been living with that in your chest?"

Hiccup merely stood stock still, Draco's piercing eyes staring down at him, Hiccup's silence giving him all the answer he needed. Reaching out with a single claw, he pulled half of Hiccup's shirt down further, exposing the bite pattern on his left shoulder.

"So I see." Draco said simply.

"What does all this mean, what will happen?" Hiccup asked desperately.

"You love each other, as more than friends, as more than brothers, a bond of mates. But I'm not sure why you needed me to tell you that. That mark and the very life you live should be evidence enough." Draco answered.

"Then why does all this seem so out of place- so much, more than anything I've really known?"

"You're a young man." Draco replied, almost laughing as he did so, "I should think it would be normal that you feel a little out of place in all this."

Hiccup stood in awe, all that he had been searching for, all that he had been confused about, everything he was searching for an answer to, he had known the answer all along.

"Toothless, we're going home."


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note: **Uhhh- sorry?

Flying home, Hiccup felt the most liberated he had in a long time. Draco's words echoed in his mind, and he realized what he said held true- the answers he sought, all the questions, all the confusion, he'd known and had the answers all along. As cliché fairy tale love story as it sounded, it was true. He'd merely been dodging the truth all along, all his self doubt, that bubbling and tingling feeling, as if there were a hot spring just below the surface of his skin. He just didn't want to believe it, everything in his very being told him to love Toothless as much as the dragon clearly loved him. He was on that edge, the knowledge was there, but his mind, everything he grew to know as a Viking said "no" to it. No matter how much he knew it was there, his mind resisted every step of the way.

"-to Hiccup!"

"Wot?" The teen responded dumbly, jerking out of his thought to respond to Toothless.

"I said, Earth to Hiccup!" The dragon replied.

"Oh sorry," Hiccup muttered, embarrassed, "I was just thinking."

"About?"

"Well, about what Draco said, about us, about Berk."

"And Astrid?"

The pit of Hiccup's stomach fell as he heard Toothless speak her name. All the time they had been in the air, Hiccup had been pondering what things were going to be like when they returned to Berk, how things would be different, how things wouldn't be different, and people's reactions. Most of Hiccup's worry was focused upon his father. It was a delicate issue- he couldn't exactly come up to Stoick and say, "Hey Pop, I'm in love with a dragon!" No, it would probably be hard to break it to him, but with Toothless there, he was sure he would soften the massive man. But it came as something of a shock when Hiccup realized, that for all the worrying, nervousness and anxiety that he had built up, Astrid hadn't been so much as a fleeting thought in the back of his mind, covered by a myriad of other issues, the poor girl took a back seat.

"Well," Hiccup began, "Not really."

"Hiccup, that's cold." Toothless said curtly. "I know you had to make a choice, but it's not as if Astrid isn't your friend."

"I know." Replied Hiccup, suddenly feeling a lot less happy than he had when the trip began, and much more guilty.

"Just sit her down and explain the situation." The dragon suggested. "I'll be right there with you the entire time."

"I'm sure that'll go over as well with her as it will my Dad, maybe less."

"Well when it's the truth, they'll have to believe it at some point or another."

XXXXXX

The sun was just breaking the peaks of the far off mountains that surrounded Berk, painting the entire village in a vast array of pinks, purples and indigo. If Astrid was a much more sentimental person, she would have said it was beautiful, maybe even a gift from Thor almighty himself. But seeing as grim business was on the march, she couldn't take the time out to admire sunrises. No, she had to slink behind houses, duck and avoid the casual gaze of the occasional onlooker, and generally try to look far less suspicious than she actually did. A task made considerably harder by the fact that she was lugging a large and noisy chain attached to an equally loud and noisy creature. Her dragon, affectionately named "Razorback" for the numerous retractable quills that dotted its spine. All the while she was doing this, Astrid couldn't help but think this must have been what Hiccup and Toothless felt like, slinking through the village while everyone was asleep.

Astrid shook herself, there she was thinking about Hiccup again. Despite her concern for her former boyfriend, she did have a bigger matter on her hands. An apparent uprising from a surprisingly large number of citizens in Berk as to their new dragon companions. No, Hiccup would have to wait. Finally reaching a suitable point, Astrid unfastened the leather collar and chain worn by her dragon, slipping off the leather straps that held a makeshift leather saddle in place. Razorback looked confusedly down at Astrid, normally when they were at this spot on the edge of Berk, they were preparing to go off flying. But the lack of saddle alerted the dragon to a difference.

"Go on." Astrid said, softly at first.

But the Deadly Nadder still sat back, eyeballing its rider.

"I said go!" Astrid called out, louder this time.

Still, the dragon sat, head cocked at an angle, curiously overlooking Astrid.

Sighing, the Viking girl merely stared back at the dragon.

"I know, this is hard. Not just for you, but for me too," The girl said, mustering more compassion and sympathy than she had in some time, "We've had a lot of good times together, and I know you guys aren't at fault here, no matter what they say. But this is for the best, really, for both of us."

Astrid merely sat by as Razorback still stared at her.

"But why am I explaining this to you? You're just a dumb rept-" In a moment, the Nadder had gave Astrid an affectionate lick on the cheek, retracting the numerous spines on its face, like it did whenever she was close to it, and leaped from the cliffside, spreading its wings and flying off over the water. Leaving a very solemn Viking girl in its wake.

XXXXXX

It wasn't like Stoick to skulk about his own village, sneaking and slipping about like some creature of the night wasn't what made the Viking people who they were. Glory in battle, and merciless rage! Those were desirable Viking traits. But Hiccup had taught him much in the recent times. Unending battle wasn't the only pleasure to be had in life, such short sighted foolishness had nearly cost him his son. He wasn't about to make the same mistake so soon. This is why Stoick Haddock, Chief of the Berk Viking tribe, found himself in an awkward spot between two huts attempting to catch snippets of conversations as he passed open windows, or the occasional group speaking in hushed tones. Berk was a small village, word got around fast, Stoick was aware of what was to come, he was no fool. But the ranks of the disgruntled fanatics had swelled as of late, and they were determined to keep their now Viking Chief in the dark as long as possible. Undoubtedly due to Stoick's status as Hiccup's father.

Unsightly rumors had spread about Hiccup of late, no, not just of late. Ever since the decisive battle that had ended the conflict among that opposing Viking tribe- and what had happened. His people weren't blind, they had seen Hiccup suffer what was supposed to be a fatal wound, only to return in what was likely the best health of his life. They had seen Hiccup's already deep connection with the dragons, Toothless in particular, reach penultimate levels. There was the scar too. Vikings certainly weren't the most prudish people, not by a long shot. More than a single person had seen the massive scar on Hiccup's chest, how despite several months having passed since, it glistened bright pink in the daylight, and held a deep scarlet even in the darkest of nights. It looked as if he had sustained the wound no more than a day before. So people talked, word of unholy pact between human and dragon had taken place. Most had latched onto the idea when Astrid had haphazardly tossed the words out on the day that Hiccup had left for parts unknown, reinforced by the erratic actions of the dragons upon his departure.

"Silly girl." Stoick thought to himself.

She had tossed it out on a whim, he couldn't begrudge her for that. No, there was far more to the matter than simply one person's emotionally addled rambling. This was a failure of understanding, a fear of the unknown once again.

So on a rather ironic note, now that his thoughts had wandered to the Viking girl, the he was also seeking out her residence. In a few brief moments, Stoick's massive strides had brought him to her home, with a controlled haste, he strode to the door and knocked heavily three times. The sharp blows echoed deep into the wood and could be heard reverberating through the house, but there was no answer. Carefully, he pulled the door open and stepped inside, seating himself in the semi-darkness of early morning until Astrid's return. They had much to talk about.

XXXXXX

Astrid didn't know why, something seemed too sad about the whole matter. She did what she knew was right, she had done what she knew was best- and yet it stilled weighed heavy on her heart. Too heavy it seemed, everything was coming apart at the seams, first Hiccup, the village in upheaval, and now her hard farewell with Razorback. It was all a lot on her mind. Right now, all she wanted was to get back home, things would resolve themselves in time, she hoped.

Immediately upon opening the door, her senses went into high alert. A fire was burning at the center pit, a sure sign that someone was there, who though-

"Astrid." Wheeling around to a darkened corner of the room to face the voice that had scared her half to death, she locked gaze with Stoick, a feeling of relief coupling with the previous shock to make her rather weak in the knees, but improving her mood nonetheless, if only a little.

"Stoick," She said, collecting herself, "What are you doing here?"

"It's about Hiccup." He replied solemnly.

Of course it was about Hiccup. It was always about Hiccup, Astrid should have figured as much, but she had no more just forgotten about the boy than it was just as quickly dredged back up.

"I would have liked to leave my son's life to his own," Stoick said, "It's the least I could have done for him. He is becoming a man and he has the right to live how he chooses. But recent events have changed that, I won't stand by while my son becomes a casualty of ignorance."

A pang of guilt struck Astrid as she realized she still hadn't come to Stoick about what she knew of Fjord and his plans.

"I want to know what you've seen between my boy and Toothless."

For a moment, Astrid didn't speak. She could tell him everything, about how the two would slink off to the grotto whenever they pleased, when they would fly off alone with no one around. The way Hiccup would drop everything and come running if something was off about Toothless. Or how the two seemed completely inseparable at all times, no matter how embarrassing something might be, or how hard it would be, Hiccup always enjoyed himself around Toothless. As she mulled all this over, the words to describe it seemed intangible, as if she knew how to say them, but they were just out of reach. A sudden and overwhelming feeling of shame overcame the young Viking girl. She had been so blind, so petty, she was jealous and afraid to admit it. Even more afraid to admit she was jealous of a dragon! But under Stoick's scrutiny, she couldn't help but realize it.

"I'm sorry-" She moaned out as she broke down, a few resolute tears streaking her cheeks. Stoick embraced her for a moment, despite not knowing what she had just realized, he unconditionally comforted the emotionally wounded girl.

"They can talk to each other," Astrid managed to mutter out between shamed sobs.

"They what?" Stoick said, taken aback.

"In the dragon pens," Astrid continued, "They were going back and forth, Toothless would growl and Hiccup would say something, then Toothless would growl again, that's all I actually know for certain."

Stoick supported the girl a little while longer, while she worked the last few racking tremors from her body.

"Thank you." Stoick said, genuine appreciation and fatherly affection glistening in his eyes.

XXXXXX

The great statues that loomed off the great cliffs of Berk were getting clearer in Hiccup's vision, his heart swelled, and a feeling of ease settled over him. He was coming home. He knew Toothless felt it as well, that feeling when you had finally resigned to a simple comfort and all was right in the world. With a final vigor, the pair continued at an unrivaled speed, eager to close that final homestretch gap.

Over the statues they soared, past the various bridges, watchtowers and structures that dotted the cliff sides of Berk. Above the roofs of the many huts they flew, taking a last aerial tour of Berk before going to settle in. However, they did not get the chance to settle in. As they flew above the village, things were wrong, the dragon pen had been destroyed, the chain linking of the canopy broken, and the doors reduced to splinters. No dragons were inside. But beyond that, the village was eerily quiet for mid afternoon. There was no one outside, no one in the public venues, nothing, it was almost as if it was dead.

"Toothless..." Hiccup muttered, as the different sensation of unease settled over him.

Toothless didn't respond, keen senses alert to the slightest danger.

A single body stood out against the rest of of the stillness. Astrid, amidst the deathly quiet of Berk, stood out in the cobblestone street, waving her hands over her head, shouting something. Hiccup took Toothless down a bit further, until finally he could make out what she was saying.

"...trap! It's a trap!"

No sooner than Hiccup heard this, an older burly Viking man burst from a nearby hut, took hold of Astrid and began to drag her away, her kicking and resisting all the while. In a frenzy, Hiccup shot down out of the sky, intent on helping her. As soon as he slighted on the ground though, what seemed to be the entire population of Berk burst forth from the many surrounding huts and buildings, weapons in hand, whooping an hollering all the while.

"Toothless, we've got to get out of here!" Hiccup shouted.

All around, people were taking slashes and jabs at the dragon with the various weapons clenched in their fists, intent on separating he and Hiccup from one another. Toothless intimidatingly swiped at them, roaring all the while. He dare not kill anyone though, as that would probably break the Viking boy. But the two couldn't hold out like this forever, in the shuffle, the leather tailfin had been ripped apart by a particularly crafty man, eliminating their best chance of escape. Deftly, Toothless batted a pair of men aside, leaped over the opposing wave and took off down the streets of Berk. Everywhere they seemed to go, someone was waiting for them with weapon drawn.

"What happened while I was away?" Hiccup thought all the while.

As the pair rounded another corner, something unexpected happened. A hand shot out from a small storage building nestled behind the iron forge where Hiccup had apprenticed under Gobber. It connected to a saddle strap and with a massive heave, pulled Hiccup and Toothless forcefully inside. For a moment, Hiccup thought he was a goner. Until he saw the hand hand was connected to none other than his father Stoick himself.

"Dad!" Hiccup cried in a moment of relief, leaping off Toothless to embrace the man.

"What happened?" The boy asked quickly, the initial relief wearing off and severity of the situation dawning on him once more.

"A group of fanatics," Stoick muttered disjointedly, distant, "They turned on the dragons. The day you left, the dragons began to act erratically, rather than wait for you, they took extreme measures. Against them. I'm sorry."

"You mean-" Hiccup began, but was cut off by Stoick nodding solemnly.

"Oh Thor." Hiccup whispered.

"You've got to get out of here," Stoick said urgently, "Gather whatever you need and leave as fast as possible!"

Hiccup moved quickly, replacing the damaged tailfin with one of the spares he kept in the iron forge, and attaching a blanket with a myriad of supplies to Toothless' saddle. Latching himself back in, Stoick approached his son once more, a sword in hand.

"I know you have Toothless to protect you, but- I'd like you to have this." Stoick held up the sword and sheath to Hiccup. Hiccup took it, fastening the belt around his waist.

"It was my first sword, I suppose it isn't much, but it's something at the least."

"Dad-" Hiccup said, tears in his eyes.

"We can't talk, you've got to get out of here!"

"But Dad!" Hiccup wailed.

"GO!" Stoick bellowed, slapping Toothless, sending the pair rocketing through the wood roof, Hiccup watching Berk disappear behind him, tears falling from his eyes all the while.


	9. Back In Black

A young man strode through a semi-barren forest, a certain experience in his steps, contrasting his physically young appearance. Although this wasn't the only oddity about this particular man. The islanders of this area knew about a people called the Vikings, a powerful tribe of one time raiders and pillagers, and their rocky relationship with equally powerful creatures- Dragons. What went from bitter hostility spanning generations turned into an unseen alliance, and then a bloody schism when the dragons were driven away from their newfound allies for reasons unknown, though rumors existed. This particular would have probably been pegged as a Viking, albeit not quite matching their usual towering stature and "wall of muscle" physique. No, this boy was characterized by a rather slim, lean build, one that would be acquired if a person subsisted on fish and vegetation for several years.

But it was not merely his body that was strange and maybe even unfitting, but his clothing as well. Tight fitting cloth jeans that were a patchwork of mismatched fabrics, though green predominantly. Lengthened to the point where nothing beneath the ankles retained the otherwise dominating color. His shirt as well was quite the patchwork, fitting too tight across the chest and shoulders, noticeable wear stressing it in several places along the seams. The only thing that didn't seem to be a rather amateur stitch-job was an ornate skin vest that seemed to have outgrown him some time ago. In another place, such a fancy article would have been a sign of status, importance, but such was not the case out in the wild.

However, all of this was not the oddest facts about this particular person. No, what would have drawn your average passerby's eye first, was a metal appendage, affixed to the stump end of his left leg, seemingly severed in some past event. The metal had lost any luster and sheen it once had, a gray and mottled color had overtaken it, giving way to a creeping brown rust that had just began to form at the bottom of it. In spite of this apparent handicap, the young man maneuvered his way about the forest floor with surprising grace, as if he had tread this path many times, to the point where he could even let his mind wander and never so much as snag the unnatural addition on many of the various gnarled roots protruding from the ground. No, this particular person was as much a part of the forest as the trees themselves, looking right at home among this scenic landscape.

But even the artificial leg upon which he walked wasn't the most curious things about him. Above all, what stood out most, was a massive, crimson scar that adorned his left breast. It looked as though the wound could barely be more than a couple weeks old, the way it gleamed through his open shirt. But the way the boy walked with little care begged to differ. All of this painted a very odd picture, a rather meek and carefree young man casually trapsing the grounds of a forest known to play home to a very, very dangerous creature.

Scar, was what they called it. A spectre, who took the form of a tall thin man, who terrorized villages riding atop a beast black as the night itself. The only real identifying thing about it was where they derived its name- A large scar upon its chest. This monster was known to live somewhere deep in this forest, and not even the bravest of warriors dared to set foot more than a few steps within its bounds, even during the light of day. Old men spoke of how they had seen this creature reduce buildings to rubble, and children shook during thunderstorms, fearful that Scar may be prowling among the lightning. If one was to tell these people, that the boy who walked these woods was the demon Scar, they would be laughed out in an instant.

The young man paused briefly, bending down to pick up a stray stick that had fallen from a bundle he was carrying, and then continued on his way, bound for an unknown destination. He paused, peering around him, his previous carefree demeanor broken, replaced by attentive and narrowed eyes. He stayed like this for a little while, but hesitantly picked up the wayward branch, and continued on, after a few steps, his carefree attitude beginning to return. It did not remain, as he heard a faint rustling behind him, this time he stiffened, senses on alert, looking for anything out of the ordinary, head on the swivel, nostrils flared and hands gripping the bundle tightly. With extreme caution, he took a step backwards, then another, carefully selecting his every move. His ears caught the rustle again, and then a snapping twig- With that, he bolted, darting off into the forest, casting aside the bundle he carried.

The rustle was replaced by the distinctive sound of pursuing feet, heavily pounding against the forest floor, tearing up grass and dirt as they went. The boy barely dared a glance backward, taking in the blurred scenery, catching brief glimpses of a black smudge in his periphery. That was all the motivation he needed, with renewed vigor, he pushed himself as fast as he could, but the pounding and padding of his pursuer grew even louder, despite his haste. He daren't look back, he didn't need to, from how loud the thumping and pounding was, he could tell that his chaser was almost upon him. But even in this dire situation, curiosity got the best of him, and he cast a glance backwards- And paid dearly. At that moment, his prosthetic leg had caught on one of the many protruding roots. He fell, hard, flat on his front, wind knocked from his body with an almighty "whump," his vision going black for a brief moment. He began to inch his way forward with his arms when something heavy pinned him to the ground, he was caught. His heart hammered, whether from exertion or fear. Hot, musty breath filled his senses, as he could tell something was so close behind him.

"Gotcha, my little Hiccup."


End file.
